The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 6 plus 3 letter word OLD SCHOOL TIE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
O
L
D
S
C
H
O
O
L
T
I
E
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.