A couple of fellows before nine getting stick (5)
I believe the answer is:
affix
'stick' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a couple of fellows before nine' is the wordplay.
'couple of' indicates the doubling of some letters.
'fellows' becomes 'f' (this might be a standard abbreviation I've not previously seen).
'before' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'nine' becomes 'IX' (roman numeral).
'f' duplicated is 'ff'.
'a'+'ff'+'ix'='AFFIX'
'getting' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for affix that I've seen before include "Join" , "Glue" , "Attach" , "Fasten (to something)" , "Append" .)