The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 5 plus 6 letter word THE ROMAN EMPIRE
T
H
E
R
O
M
A
N
E
M
P
I
R
E
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.