The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 2 plus 2 plus 5 letter word GO IT ALONE
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
G
O
I
T
A
L
O
N
E
More clues leading to the result GO IT ALONE
- Relating to sexual intercourse, good for Catholic, single, to make attempt unaccompanied
- Bash toenail badly and proceed unaided
- To strike out on his own, eccentric theologian has to waste hours
- Talk at length about Italian gangster having energy to act without help
- Old comic touring country largely beginning to extemporise and act unaided
- Ambition to get hold of modern technology – I work without help
- Aim to include Italian individual in act, without the help of others
- Ignore help and try breaking toenail
- Be independent and surprisingly genial too
- Italian, in Indian state, left individual to proceed without help
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "work without help" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case work without help = go it alone.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.