Having determination to show authorship rests between pirate and criminal (2,4,2,2,5)
I believe the answer is:
by hook or by crook
'having determination to show authorship rests' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'pirate and criminal' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'pirate' could be 'hook' (Captain Hook from Peter Pan) and 'hook' is present in the answer.
'criminal' could be 'crook' (synonyms) and 'crook' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'between' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for by hook or by crook that I've seen before include "using any means" , "Somehow" .)