The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word NEPTUNE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
N
E
P
T
U
N
E
More clues leading to the result NEPTUNE
- The main deity, a heavenly body
- Ruler at sea, showing strain after rise of pound
- Close to Armageddon, record song for the planet
- Sea god’s heavenly body
- Record number following new God
- Record air on new planet
- Write backing melody for final movement of suite
- Priest caught in trap by a French heavenly body
- Returning to write melody, one by Holst?
- New song about Disc World
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Ruler at sea" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case ruler at sea = neptune.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.