The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 1 plus 4 plus 2 plus 3 plus 4 letter word A SHOT IN THE DARK
A
S
H
O
T
I
N
T
H
E
D
A
R
K
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.