The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 3 plus 2 plus 3 plus 3 letter word LONG ARM OF THE LAW
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
L
O
N
G
A
R
M
O
F
T
H
E
L
A
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.