The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 4 letter word ELBOW ROOM
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
E
L
B
O
W
R
O
O
M
More clues leading to the result ELBOW ROOM
- Space to work with joint housing?
- Scope to jog over cell
- Tie up rock half-heartedly in retreat, creating space
- Leeway given as barge fell back
- Lower boom at sea in this latitude
- Joint accommodation in space
- Scope to lower boom in a storm
- Scope in varied role around prominent part of ship getting award
- It pains admitting to silly bloomer in space
- Lower boom, exercising freedom to move
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "space" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case space = elbow room.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.