The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 plus 4 letter word SOLDERING IRON
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
S
O
L
D
E
R
I
N
G
I
R
O
N
More clues leading to the result SOLDERING IRON
- Serving in army club, one left out cementing tool
- Joiner arranging girders on lino
- Joiner hawked bottom of wardrobe on phone— smooth!
- A joiner fighting in the army, one going with fortitude
- Some years older, in Girona it gets incredibly hot
- Tool smearing oil on grinders
- Single rod shattered by strong tool
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Joiner" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case joiner = soldering iron.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.