The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 5 letter word FACE VALUE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
F
A
C
E
V
A
L
U
E
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Apparently that of Helen being a thousand ships" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case apparently that of helen being a thousand ships = face value.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.