Monday Crusader 1a

[bdol4886346]

Please could someone explain this clue for me?
Report two characters for over indulgence -Answer is excess, but why?

[bridgenut]

X S
two characters

[kayakamina]

The two characters sound like X and S ..Excess is overindulgence

[crofter]

The answer can be written in terms of the two characters XS

[bdol4886346]

thanks i`d just worked it out looking at it on screen,but what about the c.

[Alibobs]

The c isn't relevant ."Report " in xword terms often means "sounds like"

[bdol4886346]

Of course, I think my brain`s running slow today.Thank you everyone.