The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 3 plus 5 plus 3 letter word BEAT THE PANTS OFF
B
E
A
T
T
H
E
P
A
N
T
S
O
F
F
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.