The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word LOHENGRIN
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
L
O
H
E
N
G
R
I
N
More clues leading to the result LOHENGRIN
- Most of Rheingold’s rewritten, leading to new Wagner opera
- Knight put smile on the face of little old woman
- Possibly the best part of Rheingold? Note, Wagner wrote it
- Take a look at all-female Ring Cycle opera
- See woman smile in opera
- Work of German long involved with Rhine
- Knight of the 17to see female smile
- Male in lengthy run in opera
- Wagner opera long confused with Rhine
- Knight of Holy Grail, confused lone hero, initially laughs? Not quite
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.