The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 3 plus 4 plus 2 letter word THROW THE BOOK AT
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
T
H
R
O
W
T
H
E
B
O
O
K
A
T
More clues leading to the result THROW THE BOOK AT
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "carpet" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case carpet = throw the book at.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.