The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 letter word RATTAN
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
R
A
T
T
A
N
More clues leading to the result RATTAN
- Sailor climbing brown palm
- Catch sun by desert palm
- Singer associated with Brown and Plant
- Palm brown rodent’s sat on
- Judas gets brown climbing palm
- Cane despicable chap — beat on bottom
- Cane to beat rotten fellow earlier
- Art nouveau brown furniture material
- Wretch lying in the sun may cop it — the cane!
- Cane rotter with birch?
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "climbing palm" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case climbing palm = rattan.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 RATTAN mean?
RATTAN noun- Any of several species of climbing palm of the genus Calamus.
- The plant used as a material for making furniture, baskets etc.
- (by extension) A cane made from this material.
- To beat with a rattan cane.