The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 3 plus 6 letter word BOW AND SCRAPE
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
B
O
W
A
N
D
S
C
R
A
P
E
More clues leading to the result BOW AND SCRAPE
- Flatter front to boat can spread badly
- Sad brown cape changed for fawn
- Kowtow, as a violin pupil might?
- Box office sticks nonsense at end of performance
- What poor strings do makes you cringe
- Go on the fiddle repeatedly and be ingratiating
- Two things a fiddler may do to appear excessively deferential
- Kowtow, as the novice violinist might?
- Before start of exam, former pupil backed staff with abandon in obsequious display
- Two thingsviolinist might do to be obsequious?
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "What poor strings do/cringe" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case what poor strings do/cringe = bow and scrape.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.