Group of artists in a cryptic crossword? (4,7)
I believe the answer is:
dire straits
'group of' is the definition.
'dire straits' can be an answer for 'group' (I've seen this before). I am not certain of the 'of' bit.
'artists in a cryptic crossword?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
an anagram of 'artists' is 'straits' which is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'dire' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dire straits that I've seen before include "Great difficulties" , "Position of extreme distress" , "Position of acute difficulty - pop group" , "(in) great difficulty" .)