The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word LATINIST
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
L
A
T
I
N
I
S
T
More clues leading to the result LATINIST
- Scholar head of academy can put in directory
- Classics expert least likely to get money, I gathered
- Can one enter final as classics scholar?
- In US city cash is tight, initially, for classical scholar
- Continue collecting money, international, for language expert
- Classics teacher maybe has to turn around one idiot coming in bottom of the class?
- Classics expert one can put in register
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "classical scholar" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case classical scholar = latinist.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.