The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 7 letter word SOUND BARRIER
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
S
O
U
N
D
B
A
R
R
I
E
R
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Effective obstacle that’s quickly broken?" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case effective obstacle that’s quickly broken? = sound barrier.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.