Cryptic crossword clue
Old Mac from croft developed novel smallholding 4,7,4

The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 12 plus 4 letter word COLD COMFORT FARM

I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
C
O
L
D
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C
O
M
F
O
R
T
F
A
R
M

Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "novel smallholding" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case novel smallholding = cold comfort farm.
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.

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