The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 letter word GRID
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
G
R
I
D
More clues leading to the result GRID
- Good to deliver in box
- What solvers are keen to fill? Not quite keen, on reflection
- Network expecting to lose its central pair
- Network offering free support for golf
- Hard work putting out new pattern
- Good clear network
- It’s hard work uprooting northern network
- You’re looking at one Swedish girl who’s not chic
- Some crossword, initially given free
- You must complete this, pointless, miserable toil
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "pattern" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case pattern = grid.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 GRID mean?
GRID noun- A rectangular array of squares or rectangles of equal size, such as in a crossword puzzle.
- A system for delivery of electricity, consisting of various substations, transformers and generators, connected by wire.
- A system or structure of distributed computers working mostly on a peer-to-peer basis, used mainly to solve single and complex scientific or technical problems or to process data at high speeds (as in clusters).
- A method of marking off maps into areas.
- The pattern of starting positions of the drivers for a race.
- The third (or higher) electrode of a vacuum tube (triode or higher).
- A battery-plate somewhat like a grating, especially a zinc plate in a primary battery, or a lead plate in a secondary or storage battery.
- A grating of parallel bars; a gridiron.
- To mark with a grid.
- To assign a reference grid to.