Crossword Genius

Preparing to pick up stuff first in red Golf (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

listening

'preparing to pick up stuff' is the definition.
(to pick something up is to hear it)

'first in red golf' is the wordplay.
'first' becomes 'ist' (ist resembles 1st).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'red' becomes 'Lenin' (Vladimir Lenin, Russian communist or 'red').
'golf' becomes 'g' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'ist' going inside 'lenin' is 'listenin'.
'listenin'+'g'='LISTENING'

(Other definitions for listening that I've seen before include "Hearing attentively" , "Hearing, heeding" , "all ears" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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