The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 plus 3 letter word INTEGRAL (A)
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
I
N
T
E
G
R
A
L
(
A
)
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "figure" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case figure = integral (a).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.