The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 4 letter word SMALL BEER
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
S
M
A
L
L
B
E
E
R
More clues leading to the result SMALL BEER
- It won't go down well with sponge trifle!
- Sell Amber deviously; just a half maybe?
- Local issue that’s not serious
- They don’t count second shopping centre group: resistance follows
- Little amount of alcohol used to make trifle?
- It indicates sale for trivial things
- Unimportant stuff in shops facing competition in Southern Region
- After strike’s lifted, rebel works for buttons
- Peanuts – something ordered at the bar?
- Things of little importance in glass
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Virtually nothing/a half?" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case virtually nothing/a half? = small beer.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.