The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 10 letter word TUSCALOOSA
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
T
U
S
C
A
L
O
O
S
A
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "city some 50 miles from Birmingham" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case city some 50 miles from birmingham = tuscaloosa.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.