The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 4 letter word RUN INTO
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
R
U
N
I
N
T
O
More clues leading to the result RUN INTO
- Unexpectedly meet Barney just before closing?
- Current cuts are enough to fund strike
- Maybe extra keen on encounter
- Single keen on encounter
- Encounter with Mac could become unromantic
- Come across crash …
- Collide with neutrino, energy given up in decay
- Unexpectedly encounter ram
- Unexpectedly, see vibrating neutrino losing energy
- Stumble upon hit
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "encounter" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case encounter = run into.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.