The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 plus 7 letter word LITTLE (LARGE)
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
L
I
T
T
L
E
(
L
A
R
G
E
)
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Rarely" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case rarely = little (large).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.