The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 letter word SPAN
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
S
P
A
N
More clues leading to the result SPAN
- Cross country from which I must be excluded
- Small vessel makes crossing
- Vessel to the east of small bridge
- Once turned piles over
- Old Greek lacking craft to make crossing
- Was revolver 9 inches in length?
- Reach god by bus, finally
- Stretch between spring and end of autumn
- . Strike falling short of bridge
- Cross most of Iberia without one
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Was revolver/9 inches in length" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case was revolver/9 inches in length = span.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 SPAN mean?
SPAN noun- The space from the thumb to the end of the little finger when extended; nine inches; an eighth of a fathom.
- (by extension) A small space or a brief portion of time.
- A portion of something by length; a subsequence.
- The spread or extent of an arch or between its abutments, or of a beam, girder, truss, roof, bridge, or the like, between supports.
- The length of a cable, wire, rope, chain between two consecutive supports.
- A rope having its ends made fast so that a purchase can be hooked to the bight; also, a rope made fast in the center so that both ends can be used.
- A pair of horses or other animals driven together; usually, such a pair of horses when similar in color, form, and action.
- The space of all linear combinations of something.
- The time required to execute a parallel algorithm on an infinite number of processors, i.e. the shortest distance across a directed acyclic graph representing the computation steps.
- To extend through the distance between or across.
- To extend through (a time period).
- To measure by the span of the hand with the fingers extended, or with the fingers encompassing the object.
- To generate an entire space by means of linear combinations.
- To be matched, as horses.
- To fetter, as a horse; to hobble.
- To rotate, revolve, gyrate (usually quickly); to partially or completely rotate to face another direction.
- To make yarn by twisting and winding fibers together.
- To present, describe, or interpret, or to introduce a bias or slant, so as to give something a favorable or advantageous appearance.
- (of a bowler) To make the ball move sideways when it bounces on the pitch.
- (of a ball) To move sideways when bouncing.
- To form into thin strips or ribbons, as with sugar
- To form (a web, a cocoon, silk, etc.) from threads produced by the extrusion of a viscid, transparent liquid, which hardens on coming into contact with the air; said of the spider, the silkworm, etc.
- To shape, as malleable sheet metal, into a hollow form, by bending or buckling it by pressing against it with a smooth hand tool or roller while the metal revolves, as in a lathe.
- To move swiftly.
- To stream or issue in a thread or a small current or jet.
- To wait in a loop until some condition becomes true.
- To play (vinyl records, etc.) as a disc jockey.
- To use an exercise bicycle, especially as part of a gym class.
- An abnormal condition in journal bearings where the bearing seizes to the shaft that is rotating and rotates inside the journal, destroying both the shaft and the journal.