The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word TRIAD
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
T
R
I
A
D
More clues leading to the result TRIAD
- Reported attempt by commercial gang of criminals
- Chord one’s found in jazz?
- Scandalous information turned round a secret society
- Harmonic structure I incorporated into jazz style
- Chinese group, one into a kind of jazz
- One in jazz group, with two more
- Unfinished business involving international crime syndicate
- Gang gets time over botched raid
- Short hearing, five hundred and three
- Bolt pulled back to secure first of inmates in group of three
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "crime syndicate" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case crime syndicate = triad.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 TRIAD mean?
TRIAD noun- A grouping of three.
- A word of three syllables.
- A branch of a Chinese underground criminal society, mostly based in Hong Kong.
- On a CRT display, a group of three neighbouring phosphor dots, coloured green, red, and blue.
- A chord consisting of a root tone, the tone two degrees higher, and the tone four degrees higher in a given scale.