Crossword Genius

Reportedly excluded Italian, a crook (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

bandit

'a crook' is the definition.
(bandit is a kind of crook)

'reportedly excluded italian' is the wordplay.
'reportedly' shows a homophone (sound like).
'excluded' becomes 'banned' (ban can mean to exclude).
'italian' becomes 'it' (abbreviation for Italian).
'banned' is a homophone of 'band'.
'band'+'it'='BANDIT'

(Other definitions for bandit that I've seen before include "hood" , "Armed robber in the Wild West" , "Armed outlaw" , "Crook" , "Member of a gang of robbers" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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