The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 4 letter word BONE IDLE
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
B
O
N
E
I
D
L
E
More clues leading to the result BONE IDLE
- Extremely lazy, lie on bed possibly
- Unwilling to work with British on Muslim festival, the French
- Extremely lazy attempt by the French to conserve unity
- Work-shy pupil at lecture’s end succeeds one in command
- Utterly useless vitamin left in fish
- Very lazy dizzy blonde, English, one’s embraced
- Very lazy individual put in offer before the French
- Being lazy, 23 down has no right to have one instead
- Lie on bed rolling when jobless
- Not lifting a finger, one put in offer before the Parisian
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Work-shy" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case work-shy = bone idle.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 BONE IDLE mean?
BONE IDLE adjective- Utterly lazy