The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 5 plus 4 letter word SLING ONE'S HOOK
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
S
L
I
N
G
O
N
E
'
S
H
O
O
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.