Crossword Genius

Puzzle busy person about rising total (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

bemuse

'puzzle' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'busy person about rising total' is the wordplay.
'busy person' becomes 'bee' (I've seen this before).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'rising' is a reversal indicator (going up in a down clue).
'total' becomes 'sum' (synonyms).
'sum' back-to-front is 'mus'.
'bee' placed around 'mus' is 'BEMUSE'.

(Other definitions for bemuse that I've seen before include "Muddle or stupefy" , "Bewilder or baffle" , "Cause puzzlement" , "Confound" , "Floor" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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