The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word HOLES
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
H
O
L
E
S
More clues leading to the result HOLES
Buddy explains!
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 HOLES mean?
HOLES noun- A hollow place or cavity; an excavation; a pit; an opening in or through a solid body, a fabric, etc.; a perforation; a rent; a fissure.
- (heading) In games.
- An excavation pit or trench.
- A weakness; a flaw or ambiguity.
- A container or receptacle.
- In semiconductors, a lack of an electron in an occupied band behaving like a positively charged particle.
- A security vulnerability in software which can be taken advantage of by an exploit.
- An orifice, in particular the anus. When used with shut it always refers to the mouth.
- (particularly in the phrase "get one's hole") Sex, or a sex partner.
- (with "the") Solitary confinement, a high-security prison cell often used as punishment.
- An undesirable place to live or visit; a hovel.
- Difficulty, in particular, debt.
- A chordless cycle in a graph.
- To make holes in (an object or surface).
- (by extension) To destroy.
- To go into a hole.
- To drive into a hole, as an animal, or a billiard ball or golf ball.
- To cut, dig, or bore a hole or holes in.