The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 3 plus 4 letter word NOW AND THEN
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
N
O
W
A
N
D
T
H
E
N
More clues leading to the result NOW AND THEN
- Not always on hand, went travelling
- Occasionally pale daughter tucked into anything but chicken
- As a consequence putting on nothing for women? Only occasionally
- Hand went on twitching periodically
- Occasionally note old conductor’s baton in that case
- Occasionally negative, therefore receiving stick
- Staff being overwhelmed by stag on occasion?
- East End labourer wearing censorious expression sometimes
- Occasionally referring to uprising when going around with Tunisia’s leader
- At times fashionable, with that being so
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "from time to time" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case from time to time = now and then.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.