Brain with wrinkles led the news (9)

I believe the answer is:

headlined

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'led the news' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with communicating as well as being past participle verbs.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?

'brain with wrinkles' is the wordplay.
'brain' becomes 'head' (synonyms).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'wrinkles' becomes 'lined' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'head'+'lined'='HEADLINED'

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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