Would anyone believe me if I said I'd just got it? No, probably not. How very annoying that is. Still, that's that finished, anyway

[Raak] Thanks

[Darren] It is, yes.
Flesh-eating crone follows pig draped in the Koranic verses (11). This is a work in progress, and an experiment for me, so see how you do...

Only flesh-eating crone I know is Baba Yaga - which doesn't help me but maybe it will for someone else.

CARNIVOROUS fits the length and what might be the definition, but doesn't appear to fit anything else.

It's something like ----COPHAGE or (more likely) --COPHAGOUS, I think - but the Koranic verses bit has me stumped, and the whole is (I reckon) a word I don't know.

Got it, it's SARCOPHAGUS. The COP/HAG part is at Wol suggested, and it's surrounded by SURAS, i.e. Koranic verses, except it's backwards, which there's no indication of. The definition part is cleverly obscure, I had to search for this to confirm it. , Koranic verses might be indicating SURAS, but SURAPHAGOUS SARCOPHAGUS

Ignore the fragments after the part that makes sense.

[Raak, Wol] Thunderous applause Good work.
A spot on the unfair side, I think; the experiment was in judging difficulty. If you hadn't got it, I'd have reposted as Flesh-eating Greek crone.... I do wish I could find a way to indicate the reversal of SURAS without losing the neatness and sense of the clue...

Hmmm - seeing as you say so, I'd agree. The English word doesn't mean flesh-eating (or anything like it); it merely derives from a foreign word that means that. Now, if the answer had been sarcophagous ... the clue could have been flesh-eating crone to love following pig draped in Koranic verses!

"Paul's about to compile, going back into business for very little money abroad" -E-T-S-M- (Paul is the setter.) And I promise not to emit furious noises if you get it this time!