The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word ALEPH
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
A
L
E
P
H
More clues leading to the result ALEPH
- Leading character abroad captured by female photographer
- Foreign character could be a help
- Drink at pub for leading character
- A letter in Hebrew starts to amaze locals entering public house
- Foreign character in public house after beer
- Letter on where to drink beer
- A Hebrew beer and where to get it
- Leading character needing drink heads for public house
- Hebrew character’s beer bar
- A historic drink at pub
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Leading character abroad" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case leading character abroad = aleph.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.
Crossword Answer definitions
ALEPH noun- The first letter of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, and its descendants in descended Semitic scripts, such as Phoenician 𐤀, Aramaic 𐡀, Syriac ܐ, Hebrew א and Arabic ا.