The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 5 letter word THEN AGAIN
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
T
H
E
N
A
G
A
I
N
More clues leading to the result THEN AGAIN
- Bird on the stove, in a container still
- The horse requires treeless racecourse, however
- But the horse is not tailless
- On second thoughts, the horse isn’t needing bottom wiped
- . . . . on the other hand, hen night gets abandoned with one hour gone and AA brought in
- On the other hand, afterwards gets at least some profit
- but destroyed a giant hen
- Articles about shrew get popular, on the other hand
- On the other hand, the angina developed
- By contrast, the little knight may have an advantage
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "on the other hand" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case on the other hand = then again.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.