The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 plus 3 letter word POLICE DOG
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
P
O
L
I
C
E
D
O
G
More clues leading to the result POLICE DOG
- Drug hunter cut up reserve trail
- Member of the force working on a lead?
- Officer’s faithful colleague decorated in unlimited expression of remorse
- Tracker of criminal traveller given £1,000 to hide diamonds twice
- Explorer receives very cool tip from Guatemalan tracker
- Penny Coolidge corrupted one taking lead in war on crime
- Alsatian? Or poodle transformed with CGI?
- Law operative given a lead?
- E.g. old cop I redeployed as tracker, say
- Tracker’s frozen within Jersey Group
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Law operative given a lead" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case law operative given a lead = police dog.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.