The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 4 letter word IRON GREY
I
R
O
N
G
R
E
Y
More clues leading to the result IRON GREY
Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "a shade" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case a shade = iron grey.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.