Cryptic crossword clue
Three American points for this in gold leaf, I gathered 5,4

The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 4 letter word FIELD GOAL

I've seen this crossword clue in The Sunday Telegraph
F
I
E
L
D
G
O
A
L

Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "Three American points for this" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case three american points for this = field goal.
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.

Latest crossword clues with full explanations