The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 5 plus 4 letter word KEEP ONE’S WORD
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
K
E
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P
O
N
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â
€
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S
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D
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Fulfil a promise" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case fulfil a promise = keep one’s word.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.