The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 2 plus 2 plus 5 plus 2 letter word AS IT MIGHT BE
A
S
I
T
M
I
G
H
T
B
E
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "so to speak" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case so to speak = as it might be.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.