The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 4 letter word BIG EARS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
B
I
G
E
A
R
S
More clues leading to the result BIG EARS
Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "literary hobgoblin / literary hobgoblin" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case literary hobgoblin / literary hobgoblin = big ears.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.