The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 4 plus 5 letter word PHI BETA KAPPA
P
H
I
B
E
T
A
K
A
P
P
A
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.