The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 plus 2 plus 8 letter word PETRARCH or PETRARCH
P
E
T
R
A
R
C
H
o
r
P
E
T
R
A
R
C
H
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.