The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word PRIORITY
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
P
R
I
O
R
I
T
Y
More clues leading to the result PRIORITY
- In religious house it is something given special attention
- In religious house it is an urgent task
- In a religious house it’s of the greatest importance
- Importance of sex in monastery
- Sex in monastic quarters is important issue
- Appeal in religious foundation is top concern
- Religious establishment accommodating Italian will get precedence
- In abbey, technology is given precedence
- Right of way coming from convent across it
- Income tax during previous year is the main issue
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "urgent task" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case urgent task = priority.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 PRIORITY mean?
PRIORITY noun- An item's relative importance.
- A goal of a person or an organisation.
- The quality of being earlier or coming first compared to another thing; the state of being prior.
- (of a name) A superior claim to use by virtue of being validly published at an earlier date.
- Precedence; superior rank.