The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 2 plus 6 letter word TRIAL BY ORDEAL
T
R
I
A
L
B
Y
O
R
D
E
A
L
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.