The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 plus 3 letter word HATCHET JOB
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
H
A
T
C
H
E
T
J
O
B
More clues leading to the result HATCHET JOB
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.