The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 7 plus 3 letter word THE WINSLOW BOY
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
T
H
E
W
I
N
S
L
O
W
B
O
Y
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "play" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case play = the winslow boy.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.