The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 plus 2 plus 1 plus 3 letter word GETTING ON A BIT
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
G
E
T
T
I
N
G
O
N
A
B
I
T
More clues leading to the result GETTING ON A BIT
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Elderly/slightly friendly" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case elderly/slightly friendly = getting on a bit.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.