The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word SWORDPLAY
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
S
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More clues leading to the result SWORDPLAY
- Maintaining power, lord's way disrupted fencing
- Sort of wit with point primarily that’s good for cut and thrust
- Maybe foil usage in second part of clue
- Art of a Samurai a joke, perhaps, under leadership of sissy
- Battling with foremost of setters and their art
- Spread out when receiving message — activity ‘foiled’?
- Solver’s beginning to face setter’s linguistic tricks in a duel?
- Special tricks in writing — and what they outperform?
- What we love after son could be fencing
- Drama underlying second promise to provide fencing
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "fencing" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case fencing = swordplay.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 SWORDPLAY mean?
SWORDPLAY noun- Fighting with a sword