The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 letter word LEAR
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
L
E
A
R
More clues leading to the result LEAR
- Legendary king real, surprisingly
- King Edward who wrote nonsense
- Troubled king coherent, losing head
- He tested loyalties, switching sides to non-fiction
- Royal plainly losing 100
- Poet to look like a wolf, reportedly
- Tragic figure, Romeo, getting over end of Juliet in sad tale
- Humorous writer, tragic figure abused by children
- Sovereign’s appreciation of humorist
- “Old King Cole” artist’s covered
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Humorous writer/tragic figure abused by children" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case humorous writer/tragic figure abused by children = lear.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.