The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 10 letter word HEATHCLIFF
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
H
E
A
T
H
C
L
I
F
F
More clues leading to the result HEATHCLIFF
- Prime minister with bluff character in novel
- Prime Minister Richard perhaps a romantic hero
- Ex-PM: a bluff, brooding character
- L showing passion, over Henry and Richard?
- Facelift very hard to engineer for tortured romantic hero
- Features of wild scenery portrayed in Brontë novel
- PM no longer bluff, brooding antihero
- Warm hydrochloric acid provided by female character in Gothic novel
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "brooding antihero" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case brooding antihero = heathcliff.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.