The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 1 plus 4 plus 4 plus 2 plus 1 plus 7 plus 5 letter word A GOOD DEED IN A NAUGHTY WORLD
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
A
G
O
O
D
D
E
E
D
I
N
A
N
A
U
G
H
T
Y
W
O
R
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D
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Shakespearean take on the virtue seen amongst criminals?" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case shakespearean take on the virtue seen amongst criminals? = a good deed in a naughty world.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.