The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 2 plus 3 plus 5 letter word HOT ON THE TRAIL
H
O
T
O
N
T
H
E
T
R
A
I
L
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.