The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 7 letter word THE TEMPEST
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
T
H
E
T
E
M
P
E
S
T
More clues leading to the result THE TEMPEST
- Article on English politician in tax drama
- Play time theme: pets to be groomed
- Male agency worker in try-out for play
- Time man met upcoming nuisance –drama as a result!
- Work of weather people, half looking up in anticipation of trouble
- Casual worker fixing straight time for Broadway play
- Play with male office worker in trial
- Play’s unusual theme, describing Tesla, a nuisance
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "play" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case play = the tempest.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.