The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word RUNIC
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
R
U
N
I
C
More clues leading to the result RUNIC
- Mysterious force surrounding its place
- Cut short argument about describing historic writing
- Queen Eunice losing case of old letters
- Continuous period in charge of some letters
- Sport, mostly pleasant, involving curious old characters?
- Swear unicorn’s concealed in ancient script
- Old force guarding province, symbolically described
- Operate reserve, mostly using ancient characters
- Be the manager in charge of ancient characters
- Ancient Scandinavian religion engulfs academic institution
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "using ancient characters" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case using ancient characters = runic.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.