The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word ABACI
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
A
B
A
C
I
More clues leading to the result ABACI
- Early computers from America bankers rejected
- A bishop not entirely sharp? These assist with calculations
- Taxi turns up in main road? They can be counted on
- Sailor turning around island gets help for summer
- Leaders in America and Belarus are cheating in counting methods
- Summers Greeks and Romans could count on?
- Artificial intelligence, holding degree: key to manufacturing old computers
- Early summers?
- Entering capital, turned up taxi counters
- You can count on them
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "They can be counted on" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case they can be counted on = abaci.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.