Shy criminal engrosses officer with zany crawling (11)

I believe the answer is:

sycophantic

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'crawling' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'shy criminal engrosses officer with zany' is the wordplay.
'shy criminal' becomes 'syph' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'engrosses' is an insertion indicator.
'officer' becomes 'co' (Commanding Officer abbreviation).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'zany' becomes 'antic' (I've seen this in another clue).
'syph' enclosing 'co' is 'sycoph'.
'sycoph'+'antic'='SYCOPHANTIC'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for sycophantic that I've seen before include "Flattering" , "Servile, toadying" , "Toadyish" , "flattery" , "Bootlicking" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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