The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word OTALGIA
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
O
T
A
L
G
I
A
More clues leading to the result OTALGIA
- Books one gala wrongly — pain seated near the drum!
- Hankering for times gone by – it’s not Poles causing earache
- Setting a goal? It’s a pain
- Longing for home, cardinals ignored listener’s complaint
- Ali got a terrible complaint
- Earache to ail a girl when sick
- It is a pain in the ear to leave partners in homesickness
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "earache" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case earache = otalgia.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does OTALGIA mean?
OTALGIA noun- Earache