Knight of long ago approaching (6)

I believe the answer is:

nearly

'approaching' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'knight of long ago' is the wordplay.
'knight' becomes 'n' (chess).
'of long ago' becomes 'early'.
'n'+'early'='NEARLY'

(Other definitions for nearly that I've seen before include "Noon at eleven fifty nine am" , "Close" , "approximately" , "Not entirely" , "Almost, well-nigh" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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