Engineers getting closer to recovering (9)

I believe the answer is:

regaining

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'to recovering' is the definition.
('regain' can be a synonym of 'recover')

'engineers getting' is the wordplay.
'engineers' becomes 're' (abbreviation for Royal Engineers).
'getting' becomes 'gaining' (to get is to gain or obtain).
're'+'gaining'='REGAINING'

'closer' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. It may belong to another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for regaining that I've seen is " Getting back".)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.

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