The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word EMERITI
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
E
M
E
R
I
T
I
More clues leading to the result EMERITI
- Boundless audacity beginning to irritate old academics
- Those honourably discharged, one after army corps backed appeal
- Corps in retreat — I note they served with honour
- Retired professors from Cambridge ultimately deserve one
- I bore myself over old lecturers
- Retired professors backing the engineers, at heart British
- People honourably discharged from service merit indulgence
- Honorary professors – ie retired but retaining integrity
- ‘This writer is boring’ – I object, backing old academics
- Old professors turned up one occasion without sign of hesitation
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "People honourably discharged" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case people honourably discharged = emeriti.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.