The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word OSTINATO
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
O
S
T
I
N
A
T
O
More clues leading to the result OSTINATO
- Dissonant in Tosca's C superfluous to melodic phrase
- Musical phrase, last thing from radio station to be played
- Repeated phrase, from Taoist, on Reformation?
- Unlovely in Tosca, C superfluous to melodic phrase
- Very large girl as compared with figure seen in bars
- Old station broadcast musical phrase
- Regular notes partly lost in a tornado
- Some ghost in a town making a series of musical sounds
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "figure seen in bars" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case figure seen in bars = ostinato.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 OSTINATO mean?
OSTINATO noun- A piece of melody, a chord progression, or a bass figure that is repeated over and over as a musical accompaniment.