The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 2 plus 11 letter word KEEP UP APPEARANCES
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
K
E
E
P
U
P
A
P
P
E
A
R
A
N
C
E
S
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Put on a brave face" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case put on a brave face = keep up appearances.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.