The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 4 plus 5 letter word PLAY UPON WORDS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
P
L
A
Y
U
P
O
N
W
O
R
D
S
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Pun/a charade perhaps" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case pun/a charade perhaps = play upon words.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.