The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 plus 6 letter word TRISTRAM SHANDY
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
T
R
I
S
T
R
A
M
S
H
A
N
D
Y
More clues leading to the result TRISTRAM SHANDY
- Book — avoiding parking — trips on electric cars — useful!
- Novel outings — no parking required, with public transport available
- Book one's vehicles, close by after turning right
- Isn’t Hardy smart? Extraordinary literary gentleman
- Book date with lover, say? Memory’s useful for that
- Broadcast transmits Hardy novel
- Try Danish novel about public transport vehicles, or this book
- Legendary knight’s useful book
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "literary gentleman" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case literary gentleman = tristram shandy.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.