Ask about in person (5)
I believe the answer is:
being
'person' is the definition.
(I've seen this in other clues)
'ask about in' is the wordplay.
'ask' becomes 'beg' (begging is a kind of asking).
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'beg' placed around 'in' is 'BEING'.
(Other definitions for being that I've seen before include "substance" , "Existence" , "Human, perhaps" , "A matter of 9 in the play" , "Existing" .)