The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word FLESH
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
F
L
E
S
H
More clues leading to the result FLESH
- Meat that could come from shelf
- Pulp novel changing hands
- Meat that’s raw changing hands
- Husband with ego upset family
- Meat served in Raffles Hotel
- Fellow with tie lacking a physical presence
- Pleasure at first feels like entering seventh heaven
- Rifle shot bags the meat
- Plastic shelf for meat
- Character coming back with hot meat
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "family" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case family = flesh.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 FLESH mean?
FLESH noun- The soft tissue of the body, especially muscle and fat.
- The skin of a human or animal.
- (by extension) Bare arms, bare legs, bare torso.
- Animal tissue regarded as food; meat (but sometimes excluding fish).
- The human body as a physical entity.
- The mortal body of a human being, contrasted with the spirit or soul.
- The evil and corrupting principle working in man.
- The soft, often edible, parts of fruits or vegetables.
- Tenderness of feeling; gentleness.
- Kindred; stock; race.
- A yellowish pink colour; the colour of some Caucasian human skin.
- To reward (a hound, bird of prey etc.) with flesh of the animal killed, to excite it for further hunting; to train (an animal) to have an appetite for flesh.
- To bury (something, especially a weapon) in flesh.
- To inure or habituate someone in or to a given practice.
- To glut.
- To put flesh on; to fatten.
- To remove the flesh from the skin during the making of leather.