The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 letter word GOBI
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
G
O
B
I
More clues leading to the result GOBI
- Wet place around one very dry place
- Soldier captures leaders of old brigade in desert
- One swamp recalled in desert
- Oases, principally, in awfully big desert
- Asian desert, one with marshland up to the north
- Wet place over one dry place
- Here camels roaming spit on one
- One on spit where temperature famously varies
- Mouth commonly beginning to inflame in desert area
- Travel over most of large desert
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "dry area" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case dry area = gobi.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 GOBI mean?
GOBI noun- Cauliflower