The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word FANTASY
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
F
A
N
T
A
S
Y
More clues leading to the result FANTASY
- . A nasty novel started with fine daydream
- Fancy drink, with sherry having been emptied
- Groupie, rather attractive, missing out on repeat dream
- Fizz with extremely sexy dream
- Footballers, books and arsenic – end of my dream
- Mental image of fellow worker when by yard
- Dream of Santa flying around in a fly's exoskeleton
- Stir up hollow story with T&A daydream
- Cool teaching assistants with a bit of youthful imagination
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Mental image" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case mental image = fantasy.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 FANTASY mean?
FANTASY noun- That which comes from one's imagination.
- The literary genre generally dealing with themes of magic and the supernatural, imaginary worlds and creatures, etc.
- A fantastical design.
- The drug gamma-hydroxybutyric acid.
- To fantasize (about).
- To have a fancy for; to be pleased with; to like.
- To imagine; to conceive mentally.