The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word PERSECUTE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
P
E
R
S
E
C
U
T
E
More clues leading to the result PERSECUTE
- Harass Cambridge head in dark blue truck
- Inherently quaint to victimise
- Harry‘s inherently appealing
- Hector is by definition adorable
- 8 in itself quaintly pleasing
- Intrinsically Latin adorable hound
- Hound is, by itself, endearing
- Hunt down, essentially, division associated with earl
- As such, adorable hound
- Sort of blue when meeting delightful bully
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Hector" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case hector = persecute.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 PERSECUTE mean?
PERSECUTE verb- To pursue in a manner to injure, grieve, or afflict; to beset with cruelty or malignity; to harass; especially, to afflict, harass, punish, or put to death for one's race, sexual identity, adherence to a particular religious creed, or mode of worship.
- To harass with importunity; to pursue with persistent solicitations; to annoy.