The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 4 letter word HAIL MARY
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
H
A
I
L
M
A
R
Y
More clues leading to the result HAIL MARY
- After terrible weather, no heart to unite in prayer
- Switching heads, chap needing a shave maybe said a prayer
- Spooner’s man with a beard in prayer?
- Man like Esau in Spooner’s prayer
- One trapped in game of strategy, Ray hasn’t a prayer
- Collect long pass from quarterback
- Dangerous to include 1000 in US city in prayer
- Prayer left mother in dangerous environment
- Left mother in risky act of prayer
- . Prayer given by couple losing heart after husband gets pain
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "a prayer" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case a prayer = hail mary.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.