The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 letter word ACRE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
A
C
R
E
More clues leading to the result ACRE
- Part of sacred area
- Amount of land that's about to rise and fall
- Mediterranean port area
- Brill located around river area
- In the course of returning Crusader captured this port
- Extent of Crusaders’ objective?
- Care about getting some land
- City covered in Virginia creepers
- A team lacking women in some area
- One secures right to get some land
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "area" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case area = acre.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.
What does ACRE mean?
ACRE noun- An English unit of land area (symbol: a. or ac.) originally denoting a day's plowing for a yoke of oxen, now standardized as 4,840 square yards or 4,046.86 square meters.
- Any of various similar units of area in other systems.
- (usually in the plural) A wide expanse.
- (usually in the plural) A large quantity.
- A field.
- The acre's breadth by the length, English units of length equal to the statute dimensions of the acre: 22 yds (≈20 m) by 220 yds (≈200 m).
- A duel fought between individual Scots and Englishmen in the borderlands.