Crossword Genius

Spurious plea in a report by Prince Harry (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

apocryphal

'spurious' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'plea in a report by prince harry' is the wordplay.
'plea' becomes 'cry'.
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'report' becomes 'pop' ('report' can mean a sudden explosive noise**).
'by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'prince harry' becomes 'hal' (name for the young Henry V in Shakespeare's plays).
'a'+'pop'='apop'
'cry' put into 'apop' is 'apocryp'.
'apocryp'+'hal'='APOCRYPHAL'

(Other definitions for apocryphal that I've seen before include "Fabulous" , "probably made-up" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app