The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word CHORE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
C
H
O
R
E
More clues leading to the result CHORE
- Job centre welcoming husband
- Vital to tour hospital as part of routine
- Unpleasant task in branch or elsewhere
- Hotel in centre offers routine job
- Heart broken by hard task
- Runs for son in selected task
- Job centre — husband has to go in
- In essence, hard boring task
- Repetitive task in Switzerland or Spain
- Husband contributing to essential part of housework?
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "part of routine" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case part of routine = chore.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 CHORE mean?
CHORE noun- A task, especially a difficult, unpleasant, or routine one.
- To do chores.
- To steal.
- A choir or chorus.