The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 5 letter word LORD BYRON
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
L
O
R
D
B
Y
R
O
N
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "man, 2&18 (MB&DTK) to 5 (Lady) sad 26 27 (Caroline – anag, i.e. sad, of ICON & EARL) 21 (Lamb)" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case man, 2&18 (mb&dtk) to 5 (lady) sad 26 27 (caroline – anag, i.e. sad, of icon & earl) 21 (lamb) = lord byron.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.