The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 4 letter word STAND DOWN
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
S
T
A
N
D
D
O
W
N
More clues leading to the result STAND DOWN
- Withdraw from sun, with its required effect now lost on 26, largely
- Leave the witness box and go off duty
- Resign and endure melancholy
- Withdraw from bear with fluffy hair
- Go off duty, keep a low profile?
- Walk away from part of football ground depressed
- Resign from partnership losing money
- Be unhappy, so resign
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Withdraw from" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case withdraw from = stand down.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 STAND DOWN mean?
STAND DOWN noun- A time when soldiers are not on alert