The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 7 letter word RED ADMIRAL
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
R
E
D
A
D
M
I
R
A
L
More clues leading to the result RED ADMIRAL
- Real Madrid’s high flyer
- Kuznetsov’s butterfly?
- Reckless married lad is a fluttery sort
- Pop space station into concrete casing, one able to fly at some stage
- Married with lad, terribly delicate creature
- Real Madrid’s jinking winger
- Real Madrid excited — one put in the net?
- Father on edge taken aback to be hugged by authentic flapper
- Vanessa from Madrid surprisingly encased in concrete
- Left Nelson, maybe, for painted lady’s relative
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "delicate creature" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case delicate creature = red admiral.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.