Robberies grip academic debauchees (9)
I believe the answer is:
hedonists
'debauchees' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'robberies grip academic' is the wordplay.
'robberies' becomes 'heists' (heist is a kind of robbery).
'grip' is an insertion indicator.
'academic' becomes 'don' (type of academic - especially at Oxbridge).
'heists' placed around 'don' is 'HEDONISTS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hedonists that I've seen before include "self-indulgent types" , "lotus-eaters" .)