The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word ROOTLET
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
R
O
O
T
L
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T
More clues leading to the result ROOTLET
- Search vigorously over time for minor radical
- Marsupial allowed to eat top of this plant part
- Grub served on Tube, at the outset small underground branch
- Reportedly path allowed, part going underground
- Both hands grapple excessively redirecting alien plant section
- Search vigorously given time to find minor radical
- Mentioned way to allow a bit of underground development
- Said method allowed to get part of a plant
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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.