The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 4 plus 2 plus 4 letter word WRONG TYPE OF SNOW
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
W
R
O
N
G
T
Y
P
E
O
F
S
N
O
W
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.