The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word EPICS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
E
P
I
C
S
More clues leading to the result EPICS
- Surprising spice in heroic poems
- European movies, long ones
- Online images perhaps for major stories
- Grand works using Oriental images
- Legends create one less than hundred in records
- Long stories having primarily erotic illustrations
- Stories with spice, perhaps
- Some sort of spice results in great stories
- Breaking records, essentially nice stories
- Photos attached to e-mail stories?
Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "heroic poems" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case heroic poems = epics.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 EPICS mean?
EPICS noun- An extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, celebrating the feats of a deity, demigod (heroic epic), other legend or traditional hero.
- A series of events considered appropriate to an epic.
- In software development, a large or extended user story.