The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 5 letter word ALL FOURS
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
A
L
L
F
O
U
R
S
More clues leading to the result ALL FOURS
- ... one completely spoiled for us
- Playing for USA, has two identical hands in card game
- In spite of retaining you it’s mentioned seconds after each game
- No variety in the numbers crawling
- On which one crawls — no variety in boundaries
- 2x2, 2x2, 2x2 . . . on which crawlers may be
- Exclusively for the FT, hosting loud card game
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "game" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case game = all fours.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.