The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word DESERTER
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
D
E
S
E
R
T
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R
More clues leading to the result DESERTER
- He abandons Sahara maybe with little hesitation
- Merit given by the Queen to traitor
- Maybe Arctic queen’s a rat
- Traitor act needed to break into trade secret
- Rat destroying red trees
- Renegade erred, set adrift
- Soldier under pressure, leaderless, loses heart and retreats – he goes AWOL
- With involvement of society queen, discourage one jumping ship
- Rat steered off, heading for rathole
- Holding spear oddly, hinder renegade
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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 DESERTER mean?
DESERTER noun- A person who has physically removed him- or herself from the control or direction of a military or naval unit with the intention of permanently leaving