The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 letter word DELAYS
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
D
E
L
A
Y
S
More clues leading to the result DELAYS
- Times in which one gets some sort of railway hold-ups
- Stalls of French poet’s works
- Periods restricting the Spanish – times when things don’t get going
- Waits ages catching the French retreating
- Waits with the Spanish in enlightened times
- They hold up shelves
- Upset, sadly, about first of exam hold-ups
- Suspensions in song covered by O’Connor?
- Any empty toboggan overturned outside results in hold-ups
- Hangs on shelves
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "times when things don’t get going" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case times when things don’t get going = delays.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 DELAYS mean?
DELAYS noun- A period of time before an event occurs; the act of delaying; procrastination; lingering inactivity.
- An audio effects unit that introduces a controlled delay.
- To put off until a later time; to defer.
- To retard; to stop, detain, or hinder, for a time.
- To allay; to temper.
- To dilute, temper.
- To assuage, quench, allay.