Crossword Genius

Lead phased out, which receives attention (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

spearhead

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'lead' is the definition.
(spearheading is a kind of leading)

'phased out which receives attention' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'attention' could be 'ear' (having someone's ear is having their attention) and 'ear' is present in the answer.
an anagram of 'phased' is 'sphead' which is present in the left over letters.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for spearhead that I've seen before include "in the van" , "Vanguard" , "Leading force in a military attack" , "tip on manual weapon" , "Lead (a military attack)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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