The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 2 plus 5 letter word NOM DE PLUME
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
N
O
M
D
E
P
L
U
M
E
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "In French, France, for example" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case in french, france, for example = nom de plume.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.