The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word DANTE
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
D
A
N
T
E
More clues leading to the result DANTE
- Writer quite slowly knocking out leading article
- Italian poet’s output ultimately digested by Scandinavian
- Time to bring in new poet
- Poet’s appointment about noon
- Poet’s appointment not initially to be accepted
- See about northern poet
- I told of a hellish trip in Escort around noon
- Five hundred bet on a poet
- Author initially nervous during meeting
- Wanting an evenly expressed poet
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "I (Dante Aligheri) told of a hellish trip" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case i (dante aligheri) told of a hellish trip = dante.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.