The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 letter word STROVE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
S
T
R
O
V
E
More clues leading to the result STROVE
- Tried hard to get supper finally in oven
- Went for it in the past, moving right to the front on street
- Small store struggled
- Endeavoured to change voters
- Tried to point to overt mismanagement
- Worked hard to convert voters
- Tried range 9 25
- Contested to keep Republican within range
- Tried hard, putting roast initially in cooker
- Tried hard, putting recipe in cooker
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Tried hard" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case tried hard = strove.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.