The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 plus 5 letter word SMELLING SALTS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
S
M
E
L
L
I
N
G
S
A
L
T
S
More clues leading to the result SMELLING SALTS
- Sailors who hum? They stimulate you
- They restore millions pocketed by retail crew
- They bring you round marketing to house married sailors
- These help to bring round humming sailors
- Small tingles disturbed son — medicinal preparation needed
- Singlet and smalls to launder? Odoriferous, them!
- They may bring you to men with gills at sea
- Possible cause of faint recovery?
- High ratings could be an aid to recovery
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "an aid to recovery" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case an aid to recovery = smelling salts.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.