Gold coin pocketed by top royal correspondent (9)

I believe the answer is:

epistoler

'correspondent' is the definition.
(correspondent can mean someone writing letters)

'gold coin pocketed by top royal' is the wordplay.
'gold coin' becomes 'pistole' (historical type of coin).
'pocketed by' is an insertion indicator.
'top royal' becomes 'ER' (Elizabeth Regina).
'pistole' going into 'er' is 'EPISTOLER'.

(Another definition for epistoler that I've seen is " Perhaps man of letters".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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