The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 plus 2 plus 6 letter word FIGURE OF SPEECH
F
I
G
U
R
E
O
F
S
P
E
E
C
H
More clues leading to the result FIGURE OF SPEECH
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.