The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 2 plus 2 plus 3 plus 8 letter word GO TO THE SCAFFOLD
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
G
O
T
O
T
H
E
S
C
A
F
F
O
L
D
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.