The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 3 plus 5 letter word FACE THE MUSIC
I've seen this crossword clue in The Sunday Telegraph
F
A
C
E
T
H
E
M
U
S
I
C
More clues leading to the result FACE THE MUSIC
- Players might brave a hostile reception
- Look to score or accept the consequences
- Cash fee cut — I’m prepared to confront consequences
- Confront unpleasantness, as conductors usually do?
- Dial those people, posh– confront consequences
- Bravely handle consequences of awful cafe and what’s piped into it?
- Fine expert with article on country, say, has to confront critical situation
- Observe notes and take one’s medicine?
- Accuse them if prepared to accept consequences
- Look at notes and accept what must happen?
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "take one’s medicine?" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case take one’s medicine? = face the music.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.