Hahaha – cryptic crosswords, definitely not my area.
I mean the one I’ll quote was an example used in a Young Bond Book (they were written by Charlie Higson). The word was 4 letters long and the clue was ‘Secret Agent Monkey’ with the answer of ‘Apex’.
I think the secret with a cryptic crossword is knowing when to zoom in and when to zoom out. On the word that is – Apex has nothing to do with secret agencies or monkeys!