The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 4 letter word THE ARTS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
T
H
E
A
R
T
S
More clues leading to the result THE ARTS
- Thomas Stearns embodies warmth in creative practices
- Creativity of that bloke is shown in pastry
- Mad Hatter beginning to suspect cultural world
- Mad Hatter’s cultural occupations
- Opening of these centres is what interests a culture vulture
- You and I, out of wet suit, collected culture
- Creativity from unorthodox Non- European theatres
- Time Team’s creative pursuits
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "creative practices" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case creative practices = the arts.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.