The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 4 letter word DEAD HEAT
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
D
E
A
D
H
E
A
T
More clues leading to the result DEAD HEAT
- Male wearing a dated, knotted tie
- Tie is no longer important and the opposite of cool
- Not feeling pressure in very close finish
- Boring race gives no decisive result
- Draw lifeless feature of desert?
- Man, American, wears ridiculously dated tie
- Draw deceased PM without husband
- When there’s nothing between leading couple, no more passion
- Suffocated by temperature: it couldn’t be closer
- Boring race that gives no decisive result
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "When there’s nothing between leading couple" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case when there’s nothing between leading couple = dead heat.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.