Directing evening out (9)
I believe the answer is:
levelling
'directing' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to competing as well as being present participle verbs.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'evening out' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'evening' could be 'eve' (synonyms) and 'eve' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for levelling that I've seen is " Making flat and smooth".)