The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 4 letter word STONE DEAF
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
S
T
O
N
E
D
E
A
F
More clues leading to the result STONE DEAF
- Hearing nothing whatsoever of firm beset by safe-crackers
- High ebbs and flows, primarily catching nothing
- Hearing nothing, notes fade badly
- Unable to catch director — fade out
- Personnel not quite catching on, journalist incapable in the end, picking nothing up?
- Firm, beset by safe crackers, not hearing a thing
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "picking nothing up?" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case picking nothing up? = stone deaf.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 STONE DEAF mean?
STONE DEAF adjective- Completely deaf.