The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word NOCTURNAL
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
N
O
C
T
U
R
N
A
L
More clues leading to the result NOCTURNAL
- As eg badgers do around corner, at least initially
- Caught in no-go area, left by night
- Batty, you might say, count ran off with Labour’s leader
- Negative eccentric ran cult active at night
- Lacking energy, cannot rule out sleeping through the day
- Centre of tennis court’s repaired, almost entirely done by night
- No revolution in US state is darkly active
- Go into city with prisoner, given lift during the night
- Go into new topless pub like the Red Fox?
- Study picked up change almost entirely occurring at night
Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "sleeping through the day" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case sleeping through the day = nocturnal.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.
What does NOCTURNAL mean?
NOCTURNAL noun- A person or creature that is active at night.
- A device for telling the time at night, rather like a sundial but read according to the stars.
- (of a person, creature, group, or species) Primarily active during the night.
- (of an occurrence) Taking place at night, nightly.