The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 4 plus 3 plus 2 letter word KEEP ONES EYE ON
K
E
E
P
O
N
E
S
E
Y
E
O
N
Buddy explains!
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.