The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 5 letter word URSA MINOR
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
U
R
S
A
M
I
N
O
R
More clues leading to the result URSA MINOR
- Melting in our arms — that’s only seen at night
- Neighbour to plough for us around mid-afternoon or after morning in
- Old city leader in sadistic dictator given gold stars
- Your little boy gets home with gold stars
- Old city chap wearing gold stars
- & 18d Smaller beast that shines in the night
- Man is knocked out in middle of wild excitement — stars seen here?
- Cub that comes out at night?
- Old city has Samuel wearing gold stars
- Little bear cradling in our arms
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.