The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 2 plus 3 plus 9 letter word IN THE ALTOGETER
I
N
T
H
E
A
L
T
O
G
E
T
E
R
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.