An extraordinary talent for collecting first class prior to delivery (9)
I believe the answer is:
antenatal
'prior to delivery' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'an extraordinary talent for collecting first class' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'an' could be 'a' and 'a' is found in the answer.
'first' could be 'a' (first letter of the alphabet) and 'a' is found in the answer.
an anagram of 'talent' is 'tental' which is present in the left over letters.
A single letter 'n' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for antenatal that I've seen before include "Check before delivery" , "before the baby's born" , "Relating to the care of women during pregnancy" , "Preceding birth" , "before baby arrives" .)