The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word PARMA
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
P
A
R
M
A
More clues leading to the result PARMA
- Parents crossing river in provincial capital
- Father and mother run inside Italian city
- Type of ham of standard expected by mother
- Jumpy soldier capturing Malta’s city
- Away from home, City charge to the left and mark area
- Parents to tour Rome at first, then here?
- Recipe fed to parents? It’s noted for ham and cheese
- Run into parents in European city
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Type of ham" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case type of ham = parma.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.