Cryptic crossword clue
Some wood covered in fancy polish — it’s for expert in 8s, say 11

The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 11 letter word PHILOLOGIST

I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
P
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Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "expert in 8s, say" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case expert in 8s, say = philologist.
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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