A tentative lover’s foolish ranking of preferences (11,4)

I believe the answer is:

alternative vote

'ranking of preferences' is the definition.

'a tentative lover's foolish' is the wordplay.
'foolish' indicates an anagram.
'tentative'+'lover'='tentativelover'
'tentativelover' anagrammed gives 'lternativevote'.
'a'+'lternativevote'='ALTERNATIVE VOTE'

(Other definitions for alternative vote that I've seen before include "Electoral reform" , "AV in full" , "Electoral system" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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