The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word REINFORCE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
R
E
I
N
F
O
R
C
E
More clues leading to the result REINFORCE
- Strengthen Religious Education at home, supporting Church
- Strengthen control by arm-twisting
- Engineers in, supporting church buttress
- Strengthen control on behalf of Church of England
- Strengthen means of controlling stallion?
- Troops operational? Send in more of them
- Strengthen and control troops
- Strengthen check on violence
- Strenghten check on behalf of church
- Give extra support to sappers in army unit
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Strengthen" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case strengthen = reinforce.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 REINFORCE mean?
REINFORCE verb- To strengthen, especially by addition or augmentation.
- To emphasize or review.
- To encourage (a behavior or idea) through repeated stimulus.