The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 4 letter word TIME BOMB
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
T
I
M
E
B
O
M
B
More clues leading to the result TIME BOMB
- Enemy with disastrous failure to locate explosive device
- Press release about bishop — it’s explosive
- Gang throw out overturned barrel that’s set to explode
- One may go up in a few ticks
- Mob wants me to go off in a while, having retreated?
- One that’s set to go off with the enemy has to move very quickly
- Picked up dessert with herb topping, one due to go off later?
- Scheduled report is grave about energy put into scaling second-class road
- Minute device one could go off after a while
- Disastrous failure by the enemy to find explosive device
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "One may go up in a few ticks" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case one may go up in a few ticks = time bomb.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.