The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 4 plus 3 plus 4 letter word COME INTO THE OPEN
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
C
O
M
E
I
N
T
O
T
H
E
O
P
E
N
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Emerge" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case emerge = come into the open.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.