The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 1 plus 7 plus 6 letter word A GREASED PIGLET
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
A
G
R
E
A
S
E
D
P
I
G
L
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T
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Fair challenge for one hoping to bring home the bacon?" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case fair challenge for one hoping to bring home the bacon? = a greased piglet.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.