The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word NIHIL
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
N
I
H
I
L
More clues leading to the result NIHIL
- One’s hot in wool, nothing removed? Nothing
- Elvish giant dispatching every other character over nothing
- Elvish giant oddly dismissive over nothing
- Nothing cool for retirement? Chill naked
- Love and Pride, the hit tantalising hearts
- Ultimate in conmen starts to inveigle her into lowering zip
- Northern rich girl occasionally gets nothing
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Nothing" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case nothing = nihil.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.