The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 7 plus 2 plus 1 plus 4 letter word EXIT PURSUED BY A BEAR
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
E
X
I
T
P
U
R
S
U
E
D
B
Y
A
B
E
A
R
More clues leading to the result EXIT PURSUED BY A BEAR
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.