Apple ending in mud behind second player? (7)
I believe the answer is:
costard
'apple' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'in mud behind second player?' is the wordplay.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'mud behind second' becomes 'cod' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'player?' becomes 'star' (star is a kind of player).
'cod' enclosing 'star' is 'COSTARD'.
'ending' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. It may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for costard that I've seen before include "Fruit" , "Cooking apple" , "Clown" , "cooker" .)