The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word ETHELRED
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
E
T
H
E
L
R
E
D
More clues leading to the result ETHELRED
- Woman associated with revolutionary king
- Wanting leader, sheltered deposed king
- . Signal not to go after a woman, one who wasn’t ready?
- Woman concerned about daughter who avoided confrontation?
- Old king extremely emotional drinking the wine
- Old king of Spain left in debt-ridden state
- King once styled “The Elder”
- Ill-prepared monarch sheltered, having lost crown at sea
- 19 across 22 across urge to leave three-legged structure
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Old king" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case old king = ethelred.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.