The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 2 plus 3 plus 1 plus 4 plus 5 plus 5 letter word TO CUT A LONG STORY SHORT
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
T
O
C
U
T
A
L
O
N
G
S
T
O
R
Y
S
H
O
R
T
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.