The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 3 plus 7 letter word BOX THE COMPASS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
B
O
X
T
H
E
C
O
M
P
A
S
S
More clues leading to the result BOX THE COMPASS
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.