The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 1 plus 5 letter word FOR A START
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
F
O
R
A
S
T
A
R
T
More clues leading to the result FOR A START
Buddy explains!

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.