Staff boasted (4)
I believe the answer is:
crew
I believe this is a double definition.
'staff' is the first definition.
(thesaurus)
'boasted' is the second definition.
('crew' is past tense of 'crow', meaning to boast)
(Other definitions for crew that I've seen before include "Squad" , "Those who man a ship or aircraft" , "boastful" , "clapped themselves?" , "This male hair style is closely cropped" .)