The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word YEATS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
Y
E
A
T
S
More clues leading to the result YEATS
- I agree about returning thanks for poet
- Support given over including English poet
- Starts to ‘accentuate the affirmative’ gripping this poet
- American’s vote for Eliot, initially, as literary prizewinner
- Stay up to let in eastern poet
- Poet sure to receive a first from Trinity
- Poet makes NATO reverse negative environment
- Linesman scoffs, holding up end of play
- Guy turned to welcome English poet
- One poet or another exchanges krona for yen
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Linesman" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case linesman = yeats.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.