The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 2 plus 3 plus 5 letter word GOING BY THE BOARD
G
O
I
N
G
B
Y
T
H
E
B
O
A
R
D
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.