The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 1 plus 7 plus 4 letter word A MUSICAL JOKE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
A
M
U
S
I
C
A
L
J
O
K
E
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "7?" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case 7? = a musical joke.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.