The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word REINDEER
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
R
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More clues leading to the result REINDEER
- Dancer, perhaps, overheard partner’s weather forecast?
- Arctic residents check two rivers
- Animal's means of control - costly by the sound of it
- Animals extremely ruminative, certainly, not quite right
- Dancer, say, to check wind instrument’s returned
- I read Greene madly as Magdalenian?
- One like Rudolph — check red round about tip of nose
- Control pet, it’s said, wild animal
- Animal pelt, expensive sounding
- Ruminants check tossed grass
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Noel’s tower of strength" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case noel’s tower of strength = reindeer.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 REINDEER mean?
REINDEER noun- (plural: reindeer) Any Arctic and subarctic-dwelling deer of the species Rangifer tarandus, with a number of subspecies.
- (plural: reindeers) Any species, subspecies, ecotype, or other scientific grouping of such animals.