Cryptic crossword clue
Rather unusual oldish companies around University getting answer 1,6,5

The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 1 plus 6 plus 5 letter word I SHOULD COCOA

I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
I
S
H
O
U
L
D
C
O
C
O
A

Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "Rather" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case rather = i should cocoa.
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.

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