The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 4 plus 6 letter word ALAS POOR YORICK
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
A
L
A
S
P
O
O
R
Y
O
R
I
C
K
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "start of line from small village?" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case start of line from small village? = alas poor yorick.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.