The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 plus 7 letter word DEFINITE ARTICLE
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
D
E
F
I
N
I
T
E
A
R
T
I
C
L
E
More clues leading to the result DEFINITE ARTICLE
- The grammarian's name for it?
- The deficient retail supply
- The grammarian’s name for it? Sure thing!
- You might say the ant I electrified needs treatment!
- Certain skill Liberal held in reserve for part of speech
- The ideaI felt certain worked
- The fool captured in citadel free, I suspect
- The day’s leading entomologist has limited skill with lice treatment
- The damage around intricate weaving
- The idiot in life reacted and I adapted
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "The" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case the = definite article.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.