The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 2 plus 1 plus 4 letter word ON A DIET
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
O
N
A
D
I
E
T
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.