The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 4 plus 3 plus 5 letter word TOM DICK AND HARRY
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
T
O
M
D
I
C
K
A
N
D
H
A
R
R
Y
More clues leading to the result TOM DICK AND HARRY
- Whittington, chasing cat, ran hard all over the place with unknown, random blokes
- People in general observing idiot coming between cat and hound
- Anyone tardy? Drink mocha for a change
- Mr. Anarchy, Kid Dot corrupted ordinary people
- Brew drink today, charm everyone
- Misbehaving Mack did not harass anybody
- Jefferson, Nixon, Truman: to their friends perhaps ordinary people
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "People in general" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case people in general = tom dick and harry.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.