Crossword Genius

Players, being experts, restricting lock (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

actresses

'players' is the definition.
(actress is a kind of player)

'experts restricting lock' is the wordplay.
'experts' becomes 'aces' (ace is a kind of expert).
'restricting' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'lock' becomes 'tress' (I've seen this before).
'aces' enclosing 'tress' is 'ACTRESSES'.

'being' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for actresses that I've seen before include "Female impersonators" , "Female thespians" , "Female performers" , "Starlets" , "Stage performers" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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