The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word ONE-LINER
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
O
N
E
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L
I
N
E
R
More clues leading to the result ONE-LINER
- Crack in a vessel
- Old northeastern ship is a joke
- Northern priest engaged by big story as source of humour
- . Small crack in a ship
- ‘A fancy ship’? That’s a joke
- Singular craft seen in short humorous piece
- Joke about English and QE2, say
- Quip about English ship
- A drink vessel displaying crack
- A single ship? That’s a joke
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "short humorous piece" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case short humorous piece = one-liner.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 ONE-LINER mean?
ONE-LINER noun- A short joke, especially one of a single sentence.
- A short remark intended as a sound bite.
- A command or small program consisting of a single line of input.