Cryptic crossword clue
Makes hard queen say less occasionally 7

The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word ANNEALS

I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
A
N
N
E
A
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S

Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "Makes hard" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case makes hard = anneals.
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 ANNEALS mean?

ANNEALS noun
  1. An act of annealing.
ANNEALS verb
  1. To subject to great heat and then (often slow) cooling, and sometimes reheating and further cooling, for the purpose of rendering less brittle; to temper; to toughen.
  2. To cool glass slowly, to minimize internal stress.
  3. To burn colors onto a glass or other surface.
  4. To make a double-stranded nucleic acid by pairing a single strand with a complementary strand.
  5. To strengthen or harden.

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