The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 2 plus 2 plus 4 plus 5 letter word IN SO MANY WORDS
I
N
S
O
M
A
N
Y
W
O
R
D
S
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "getting across answer, very briefly?" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case getting across answer, very briefly? = in so many 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.