The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 plus 3 plus 5 letter word AGAINST THE CLOCK
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
A
G
A
I
N
S
T
T
H
E
C
L
O
C
K
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "in a desperate hurry" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case in a desperate hurry = against the clock.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.