The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 3 letter word TOO BAD
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
T
O
O
B
A
D
More clues leading to the result TOO BAD
- Beyond repair? I don’t care
- Words of reluctant acceptance not good enough
- How sad! He died, bitten by amphibian …
- Daughter has a shoe the wrong way round – never mind
- Beyond redemption? You can’t help that!
- Taboo violated by duke. What a pity!
- Daughter given a kick upset? Shame!
- Old boy, taken in by baddy, gives expression of resignation
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Words of reluctant acceptance" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case words of reluctant acceptance = too bad.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.