The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word BOTANIST
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
B
O
T
A
N
I
S
T
More clues leading to the result BOTANIST
- Plant scientist into bats, surprisingly
- Somehow obtain good person who is an expert on bloomers
- Madly into bats? More probably into nuts!
- Plantsman Brown features in various obits
- Scientist making maggot eat cuckoos
- He may study bonsai mutation around end of August using tweezers at first
- Birch tree swapped by first scientist
- Scientist ordered to abstain initially refused
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Scientist" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case scientist = botanist.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 BOTANIST mean?
BOTANIST noun- A person engaged in botany, the scientific study of plants.