Established contact fibbed about top story's lead (7)

I believe the answer is:

liaised

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'established contact' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are past participle verbs, I cannot see how they can define each other.

'fibbed about top story's lead' is the wordplay.
'fibbed' becomes 'lied' (fib can mean to tell a lie).
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'top' becomes 'ai' (I've seen this in other clues).
'lead' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'storys' is 's'.
'ai'+'s'='ais'
'lied' placed around 'ais' is 'LIAISED'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for liaised that I've seen before include "Established contacts" , "got in touch" , "Maintained contact" , "Networked" , "Acted as go-between or link" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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