The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 2 plus 5 plus 2 plus 3 letter word AS OFTEN AS NOT
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
A
S
O
F
T
E
N
A
S
N
O
T
More clues leading to the result AS OFTEN AS NOT
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "quite frequently" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case quite frequently = as often as not.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.