Crossword Genius

Queues stopping organs arriving ahead of schedule (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

earliness

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'arriving ahead of schedule' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how one could define the other.

'queues stopping organs' is the wordplay.
'queues' becomes 'lines' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'stopping' means one lot of letters goes inside another (stopping can mean blocking a gap).
'organs' becomes 'ears' (ear is a kind of organ).
'lines' inserted into 'ears' is 'EARLINESS'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for earliness that I've seen before include "Ere snails? (Anag)" , "being in good time" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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