The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 5 letter word EPSOM SALTS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
E
P
S
O
M
S
A
L
T
S
More clues leading to the result EPSOM SALTS
- Medication to dispose of male's spots
- Sailors attending course find something to keep them going
- Purgative from sailors in Surrey?
- Where you can bet sailors will give you a purgative
- Purgatives sorted out males with spots
- Track ancient mariners supplying purgative
- Medicine pill initially consumed by some poorly sailors
- Those assisting passage of sailors following course
- Medicine stops meals becoming problematic
- Item found in medicine cupboard — toss sample out
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "something to keep them going" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case something to keep them going = epsom salts.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.