The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 letter word CRIB
I've seen this crossword clue in The Sunday Telegraph
C
R
I
B
More clues leading to the result CRIB
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Young child may lie in this/card game/cheat" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case young child may lie in this/card game/cheat = crib.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 CRIB mean?
CRIB noun- A baby’s bed with high, often slatted, often moveable sides, suitable for a child who has outgrown a cradle or bassinet.
- A bed for a child older than a baby.
- A small sleeping berth in a packet ship or other small vessel
- A wicker basket; compare Moses basket.
- A manger, a feeding trough for animals elevated off the earth or floor, especially one for fodder such as hay.
- The baby Jesus and the manger in a creche or nativity scene, consisting of statues of Mary, Joseph and various other characters such as the magi.
- A bin for drying or storing grain, as with a corn crib.
- A small room or covered structure, especially one of rough construction, used for storage or penning animals.
- A confined space, as with a cage or office-cubicle
- A job, a position; (British), an appointment.
- A hovel, a roughly constructed building best suited to the shelter of animals but used for human habitation.
- One’s residence, or where one normally hangs out. A house or dwelling place.
- A boxy structure traditionally built of heavy wooden timbers, to support an existing structure from below, as with a mineshaft or a building being raised off its foundation in preparation for being moved; see cribbing.
- (usually in the plural) A collection of quotes or references for use in speaking, for assembling a written document, or as an aid to a project of some sort; a crib sheet.
- A minor theft, extortion or embezzlement, with or without criminal intent.
- The card game cribbage.
- The cards discarded by players and used by the dealer.
- A known piece of information corresponding to a section of encrypted text, that is then used to work out the remaining sections.
- A small holiday home, often near a beach and of simple construction.
- A packed lunch taken to work.
- A small raft made of timber.
- (thieves' cant) The stomach.
- A cheat sheet or past test used by students; crib sheet.
- To place or confine in a crib.
- To shut up or confine in a narrow habitation; to cage; to cramp.
- To collect one or more passages and/or references for use in a speech, written document or as an aid for some task; to create a crib sheet.
- To plagiarize; to copy; to cheat.
- To install timber supports, as with cribbing.
- To steal or embezzle, to cheat out of.
- (Indian English) To complain, to grumble
- To crowd together, or to be confined, as if in a crib or in narrow accommodations.
- (of a horse) To seize the manger or other solid object with the teeth and draw in wind.