The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word FONTS
F
O
N
T
S
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "They’re familiar to printers" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case they’re familiar to printers = fonts.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.
What does FONTS mean?
FONTS noun- A receptacle in a church for holy water, especially one used in baptism.
- A receptacle for oil in a lamp.
- Spring, source, fountain.
- A set of glyphs of unified design, belonging to one typeface (e.g., Helvetica), style (e.g., italic), and weight (e.g., bold). Usually representing the letters of an alphabet and its supplementary characters.
- A computer file containing the code used to draw and compose the glyphs of one or more typographic fonts on a computer display or printer.
- To overlay (text) on the picture.
- A source, wellspring, fount.