The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word USAGE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
U
S
A
G
E
More clues leading to the result USAGE
- Treatment of savant by university
- Custom from American era
- Employment of learned person after university
- Treatment upset English unionist with trapped wind
- Man having day to find employment
- Wise to go on a bender, having consumption?
- Frankfurter maybe wanting Salvation Army employment
- American extended period in employment
- This year it’ll be 245 years in employment
- In the end, you learned operation
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "consumption" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case consumption = usage.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 USAGE mean?
USAGE noun- The manner or the amount of using; use.
- Habit or accepted practice.
- The ways and contexts in which spoken and written words are used, determined by a lexicographer's intuition or from corpus analysis.
- The treatment of someone or something.