The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 5 letter word IVORY TOWER
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
I
V
O
R
Y
T
O
W
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R
More clues leading to the result IVORY TOWER
- Retreat from tooth-puller?
- Who pulls teeth, perhaps, in privileged seclusion?
- Isolated situation I’ve to worry about
- Retreat from one who pulls big teeth?
- Woman hoarding gold wrote badly in place of academic
- I’ve to worry about seclusion
- Place of retreat from unorthodox Tory view, or one pulling teeth
- One or two, very unusually, found in academics’ dwelling
- Keep following film director in retreat …
- Merchant’s partner close to bust, one in debt in retreat
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Retreat" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case retreat = ivory tower.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.