The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 plus 9 letter word COUNTDOWN CONUNDRUM
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
C
O
U
N
T
D
O
W
N
C
O
N
U
N
D
R
U
M
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.