The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 4 plus 7 letter word SEE WHAT HAPPENS
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
S
E
E
W
H
A
T
H
A
P
P
E
N
S
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "play it by ear" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case play it by ear = see what happens.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.