The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 3 plus 5 plus 3 plus 4 letter word WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
W
H
E
N
T
H
E
C
H
I
P
S
A
R
E
D
O
W
N
More clues leading to the result WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN
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.