Spirited authors? (12)

I believe the answer is:

ghostwriters

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'spirited authors?' is the definition.
'ghostwriters' can be an answer for 'authors?' (ghostwriter is a kind of author). I am not sure about the 'spirited' bit.

'spirited authors?' is the wordplay.
'spirited' becomes 'ghost' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'authors?' becomes 'writers' ('writer' can be a synonym of 'author').
'ghost'+'writers'='GHOSTWRITERS'

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I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.

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