The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 2 plus 5 letter word SANTA FE TRAIL
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
S
A
N
T
A
F
E
T
R
A
I
L
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "old trading route" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case old trading route = santa fe trail.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.