The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word TIBER
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
T
I
B
E
R
More clues leading to the result TIBER
- River bank hides opening of burrow
- Wood losing mass in Roman river
- Mike leaving wood finds river
- Banker gets cab finally entering rank
- Bishop in row that divides Rome
- Take minute out of wood in river
- Row around black river
- Roman banker and bishop involved in row
- River in wood, miles away
- Bishop breaking rank goes through Rome
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "river" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case river = tiber.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.