The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word ARAUCARIA
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
A
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More clues leading to the result ARAUCARIA
- Evergreen song by artist breaking Chaucer's heart
- A song about a cur tangled in a monkey-puzzle
- Evergreen song in opera about gold carriage
- A song about king caught hiding gold in tree
- He’s really missed the combination of today’s themes
- Nurse holding blend of curara for S. American native
- Puzzling old friend, artist in middle of saucy song
- Opera song about a posh limo
- Constant song by a river and golden tree
- … Guardian giant, artist, utterly charming, initially breaking into a song
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Puzzling old friend" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case puzzling old friend = araucaria.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 ARAUCARIA mean?
ARAUCARIA noun- An individual plant (tree) of the genus Araucaria.