The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 6 letter word IVY LEAGUE
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
I
V
Y
L
E
A
G
U
E
More clues leading to the result IVY LEAGUE
- I leave guy improperly for American universities
- College group some distance beneath climber
- Universities collectively taking climber the distance
- College group about three miles south of climber
- I have disruptive guy leave athletics conference
- Current university expelling amateur in woolly academic grouping
- Give Yale U changes in this?
- Without publicity gents maybe measure some universities
- Brown is one of its members, and girl attending class
- I leave guy floundering in a prestigious academic group
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "athletics conference" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case athletics conference = ivy league.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.