The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 7 letter word SMALL FORTUNE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
S
M
A
L
L
F
O
R
T
U
N
E
More clues leading to the result SMALL FORTUNE
- Lots of money, but little luck
- Lots of money but not much luck
- Lots of money but little luck
- Special walk, one in Chamonix, gets strength circulating in an arm and a leg
- Cash obtained by son — a full term at work
- Strangely enough it’s a large sum of money
- Surprisingly, most earn full amount
- Little air covering for the earth?
- Amount of money earned for being included in minor musical composition
Buddy explains!
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.