The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 letter word SLOE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
S
L
O
E
More clues leading to the result SLOE
- Type of gin measured by the sound of it
- Fruit is late, we hear
- Last of pickers still to grade fruit
- Fruit drop lacks power
- Black part of shoe, inner section reversed
- Reportedly uninteresting fruit
- Reportedly, tortoises and snails like this fruit
- Potato initially excluded from list of fruit
- Reportedly thick fruit
- Reportedly taking long to find fruit
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "fruit" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case fruit = sloe.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 SLOE mean?
SLOE noun- The small, bitter, wild fruit of the blackthorn (Prunus spinosa).
- The tree Prunus spinosa.
- Any of various other plants of the genus Prunus, as a shrub or small tree, Prunus alleghaniensis, bearing dark-purple fruit.