The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word PRIOR
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
P
R
I
O
R
More clues leading to the result PRIOR
- Earlier religious building, incomplete
- Leader of House, one asking too much of Speaker
- Abbot's deputy - an inquisitive type, we're told
- Top monk extremely popular around S American port
- Earlier, pair drinking port
- Previous religious head
- Religious person asking personal questions on the phone
- Inquisitive-sounding monk
- Earlier advertising about Olympic venue
- Previous incumbent at the abbey
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Leader of House" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case leader of house = prior.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 PRIOR mean?
PRIOR noun- A high-ranking member of a monastery, usually lower in rank than an abbot.
- A chief magistrate in Italy.
- (law enforcement) A previous arrest or criminal conviction on someone's record.
- In Bayesian inference, a prior probability distribution, one based on information or belief before additional data is collected.
- Advance; previous; coming before.
- Former, previous.
- Previously.