The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 2 plus 3 letter word NOT SO BAD
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
N
O
T
S
O
B
A
D
Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "Fair" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case fair = not so bad.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.