The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 4 plus 1 plus 5 letter word WORK LIKE A CHARM
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
W
O
R
K
L
I
K
E
A
C
H
A
R
M
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Succeed really well" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case succeed really well = work like a charm.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.