The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 5 letter word THE BIRDS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
T
H
E
B
I
R
D
S
More clues leading to the result THE BIRDS
- Hitchcock film in three equal parts about English bishop
- Film that’s European and British in equal parts?
- Hitchcock film is promoted in three parts?
- Respighi’s suite is a take on Hitchcock and play by Aristophanes
- Suite, play and film
- Film Martin and Robin et al
- Time to acquire “Brideshead Revisited” after being reduced by 30%
- Old picture in ecclesiastical books primarily found in ordinals
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Old picture" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case old picture = the birds.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.