The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 1 plus 4 plus 2 plus 3 plus 4 plus 2 plus 5 plus 3 plus 2 plus 3 plus 4 letter word A BIRD IN THE HAND IS WORTH TWO IN THE BUSH
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
A
B
I
R
D
I
N
T
H
E
H
A
N
D
I
S
W
O
R
T
H
T
W
O
I
N
T
H
E
B
U
S
H
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "certainty; it’s better than gambling" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case certainty; it’s better than gambling = a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.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.