The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word EVASION
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
E
V
A
S
I
O
N
More clues leading to the result EVASION
- Dodging troubles so naive
- Keep up home, retaining old hedging
- Act of avoiding the answer after retirement to ‘Do you spend?’
- Cunning goalie’s best moment coming up
- Avoidance of oddball so naive
- Hedging, contrary answer to ‘Do you let goals in?’
- Subterfuge could be so naive
- Denial by goalkeeper accused of letting balls in? Flipping excuse
- Girl starts to smile impishly about excuse
- Girl’s one close to attempt to escape
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "hedging" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case hedging = evasion.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 EVASION mean?
EVASION noun- The act of eluding or evading or avoiding, particularly the pressure of an argument, accusation, charge, or interrogation; artful means of eluding.