The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word ACTAEON
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
A
C
T
A
E
O
N
More clues leading to the result ACTAEON
- A horse ultimately kept in London district — a hunter
- One cruelly killed a long time after deed
- Hunter who became a stag will perform for a long time
- Hunter in exploit over enormously long period
- Hunter in exploit over long period
- His view of immortality led to his own mortality
- Hunter‘s performance going on a long time
- Hunter, one running minutes earlier
- Hunter in exploit over a very long period
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Hunter" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case hunter = actaeon.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.