The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 letter word DEARTH
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
D
E
A
R
T
H
More clues leading to the result DEARTH
- Much loved, this is missing in poverty
- Want relief primarily in the end
- Scarcity of daughters where we live?
- Lack of soil on ground, ultimately
- Expensive getting only half of this in shortage
- Shortage beginning to rankle in the end
- Beginning to deal with world shortage
- Deficiency daughter identified on our planet
- Shortage beginning to destroy planet
- Shortage of food ultimately overwhelming planet
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Want" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case want = dearth.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 DEARTH mean?
DEARTH noun- A period or condition when food is rare and hence expensive; famine.
- (by extension) Scarcity; a lack or short supply.
- Dearness; the quality of being rare or costly.