Brief leans over catalogues of candidates (10)

'catalogues of candidates' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to thinking as well as being verbs in their -s form.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?

'brief leans over' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'brief' could be 'short' ('short' can be a synonym of 'brief') and 'short' is found in the answer.
'leans' could be 'lists' (I've seen this before) and 'lists' is located in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?