The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 2 plus 4 plus 2 plus 2 plus 3 letter word BE THAT AS IT MAY
B
E
T
H
A
T
A
S
I
T
M
A
Y
More clues leading to the result BE THAT AS IT MAY
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.