The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 11 plus 7 letter word SUBORDINATE CLAUSES
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
S
U
B
O
R
D
I
N
A
T
E
C
L
A
U
S
E
S
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.