Crossword Genius

Consume copper in coppery bust (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

preoccupy

'consume' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'copper in coppery bust' is the wordplay.
'copper' becomes 'Cu' (chemical symbol).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'bust' indicates anagramming the letters.
'coppery' with letters rearranged gives 'preocpy'.
'cu' placed inside 'preocpy' is 'PREOCCUPY'.

(Another definition for preoccupy that I've seen is " Fixate".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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