Crown reportedly understands the outcome of excess flattery (5,4)

I believe the answer is:

brown nose

'the outcome of excess flattery' is the definition.
(brown nose informally means to flatter someone)

'crown reportedly understands' is the wordplay.
'crown' becomes 'brown' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'reportedly' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'understands' becomes 'knows' (I've seen this before).
'knows' sounds like 'nose'.
'brown'+'nose'='BROWN-NOSE'

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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