The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 3 letter word COLD WAR
C
O
L
D
W
A
R
More clues leading to the result COLD WAR
- Form of hostility that never heats up?
- Coward shaking, crossing line - but no actual fighting here
- Superpower rivalry in the Antarctic?
- Global struggle: virus from the east not treated
- Conflict provided communist leader with a world unsettled
- Two bitters, one sent back in major face-off
- Tension caused by troubled coward crossing line
- Elderly wife in vehicle, creating tense political situation
- State of tension seeing coward struggling across line
- Common complaint, sore back, creating period of tension
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Strained relations between USA and USSR" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case strained relations between usa and ussr = cold war.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.