The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 2 plus 1 plus 3 letter word DEVIL OF A JOB
D
E
V
I
L
O
F
A
J
O
B
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.