The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word NOVEL
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
N
O
V
E
L
More clues leading to the result NOVEL
- Christmas wrapping very new
- New sort of book
- Book first of vacations in time for Christmas
- Man penning volume, a work of fiction
- Original, having first half of month on lake
- Number cyclically permuting 0 and 1?
- . Book of Leviticus about to be reviewed
- Against getting into Yuletide romance?
- Man penning very short fictional work
- Christmas centred around very short work of fiction
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "a work of fiction" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case a work of fiction = novel.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 NOVEL mean?
NOVEL adjective- Newly made, formed or evolved; having no precedent; of recent origin; new.
- Original, especially in an interesting way; new and striking; not of the typical or ordinary type.
- A work of prose fiction, longer than a novella.
- A fable; a short tale, especially one of many making up a larger work.
- A novelty; something new.
- A new legal constitution in ancient Rome.