The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word PARMESAN
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
P
A
R
M
E
S
A
N
More clues leading to the result PARMESAN
- Smear pan to cook cheese
- Spare man ordered this to go on pasta perhaps
- Cheese melted near Spam
- Standard plan to include Southern cheese
- Standard source of salt found in average cheese
- Dairy product of standard expected by writer at hospital
- Standard means for preparing cheese
- Strike about foreign names for cheese
- Me, not I, in capital with an Italian cheese
- F’s standard design with central section
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "cheese" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case cheese = parmesan.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 PARMESAN mean?
PARMESAN noun- A hard, full-fat Italian cheese from Parma.
- (by extension) A similar cheese produced elsewhere.
- Money.