The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 13 letter word CAT-AND-MOUSE
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
C
A
T
-
A
N
D
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M
O
U
S
E
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Cunning manoeuvres" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case cunning manoeuvres = cat-and-mouse.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.