The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 6 letter word BON VOYAGE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
B
O
N
V
O
Y
A
G
E
More clues leading to the result BON VOYAGE
- Heads for vacation often during spare time, showing wish for travel
- Carrying nothing in bag, envoy arranged send-off
- Wish for a pleasant journey from France
- Travel well above New York and go flying
- A boy gone mad having received very encouraging message before journey
- Bye! Go on a third adventure! Have a safe trip!
- Nice wishes for a journey!
- Genova resort with boy making safe journey
- Doctor gave boy no parting words when travelling
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "send-off" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case send-off = bon voyage.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.