The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 3 letter word IRISH SEA
I've seen this crossword clue in The Sunday Telegraph
I
R
I
S
H
S
E
A
More clues leading to the result IRISH SEA
- Forecast area is one to go up shortly — prophet has nothing to lose
- Hibernian second team showing guts, finding area for crossing?
- Man’s setting off as he pursues girl
- Man’s environment is as part of Earth; is running out of time
- Flower girl has gone travelling around Spain in the main
- Man rises above this environment
- Girl – she drifted over a large stretch of water
- Man’s surroundings
- Hire sis a building on a large stretch of water
- A shire is unusual location for Douglas
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Main area separating contenders for Triple Crown" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case main area separating contenders for triple crown = irish sea.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.