The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word SPLAYED
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
S
P
L
A
Y
E
D
More clues leading to the result SPLAYED
- Son had fun with toys spread out
- Sarah Palin starts changing Yale – daughter turned out
- Spread out: scattered having changed hands
- Spades put on table, spread out
- Turned out and joined in game on Saturday
- Spread out, hurried around place
- Climbing mountains outside of Yorkshire, 500 spread out
- Spread out, and led a spy astray
- Raced around, got into bed and spread out
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "spread ou" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case spread ou = splayed.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 SPLAYED mean?
SPLAYED verb- To spread; spread out.
- To dislocate, as a shoulder bone.
- To turn on one side; to render oblique; to slope or slant, as the side of a door, window etc.
- To rearrange (a splay tree) so that a desired element is placed at the root.
- To spay; to castrate.
- Of a door or a window: bevelled so as to be larger on one side of the wall than on the other.