The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 plus 6 letter word DIESEL ENGINE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
D
I
E
S
E
L
E
N
G
I
N
E
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.