The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 3 plus 3 letter word HOW ARE YOU
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
H
O
W
A
R
E
Y
O
U
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.