The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word GATHERING
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
G
A
T
H
E
R
I
N
G
More clues leading to the result GATHERING
- Understanding crowd
- Company is picking up
- Understanding crowd
- Good call to bring in articles for meeting
- Assembly starts to get animated before Wagner’s work
- Something pussy guiltily ate: two starters, then a partly gutted fish
- Crowd sees Georgia boxing
- Rally concluding
- Understanding devious hinter’s in-joke?
- Group in nightgear messed around
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Rally/concluding" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case rally/concluding = gathering.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 GATHERING mean?
GATHERING noun- A meeting or get-together; a party or social function.
- A group of people or things.
- A section, a group of bifolios, or sheets of paper, stacked together and folded in half.
- A charitable contribution; a collection.
- A tumor or boil suppurated or maturated; an abscess.
- To collect; normally separate things.
- To bring parts of a whole closer.
- To infer or conclude; to know from a different source.
- (of a boil or sore) To be filled with pus
- To collect molten glass on the end of a tool.
- To gain; to win.
- That gathers together