The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 2 plus 5 letter word OUT OF ORDER
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
O
U
T
O
F
O
R
D
E
R
More clues leading to the result OUT OF ORDER
- Discharged from brotherhood, misbehaving
- Not acceptable to be shot stealing old car
- No longer called brother that’s not working
- Unacceptable for detour to go wrong around Ohio
- Untidy, like monks with unacceptable habits?
- Too rude for being so?
- Letters in an anagram are so not working!
- Not working properly until US President intervenes in failing euro
- … disgraced monk’s status, perhaps, for not following the rules
- Not working having left monastery
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "so" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case so = out of order.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.
What does OUT OF ORDER mean?
OUT OF ORDER adjective- Alternative spelling of out of order