The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word DETERGENT
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
D
E
T
E
R
G
E
N
T
More clues leading to the result DETERGENT
- Discourage fellow cleaner
- Cleaner put off, man!
- Put off by spot of grease on hospital department cleaner
- , 26 Cleaner to hearten lady? Quite the opposite
- Stop fellow getting cleaner
- Cleaner put off by posh bloke
- Stop man getting cleaner
- Feature of dishwashing to put fellow off
- Discourage fellow delivering soap
- Dead EastEnder’s first and last good man in soap
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "cleaner" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case cleaner = detergent.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 DETERGENT mean?
DETERGENT adjective- That cleanses.
- Any non-soap cleaning agent, especially a synthetic surfactant.