Sailors reportedly spot bishops, say, on board (6)
I believe the answer is:
seamen
'sailors' is the definition.
(I know this)
'reportedly spot bishops say on board' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'reportedly' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is found in the answer.
'bishops say' could be 'men' (bishop is a kind of man) and 'men' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'sa' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for seamen that I've seen before include "Sailors" , "mates, maybe" .)