The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 6 letter word HIGH PRIEST
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
H
I
G
H
P
R
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E
S
T
More clues leading to the result HIGH PRIEST
- Religious figure showing esprit?
- Head of cult on a trip snoops on travellers initially
- Caiaphas, perhaps — strangely he is right to keep quiet
- He is right to be disturbed about power for religious leader
- Religious leader‘s strange rites after publicity on the radio
- Important Jew — somehow he’s pi, right?
- Man in church, intoxicated, quietly making a mess of rites
- Cult leader on drugs quietly tries to get sorted out
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Head of cult" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case head of cult = high priest.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.