Scouting technique’s thrown a crowd of townsmen at first (9)

I believe the answer is:

woodcraft

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'scouting technique's thrown a crowd of townsmen at first' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'thrown a crowd of townsmen at first' is the wordplay.
'thrown' is an anagram indicator.
'at first' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'townsmen' is 't'.
'a'+'crowd'+'of'='acrowdof'
'acrowdof' with letters rearranged gives 'woodcraf'.
'woodcraf'+'t'='WOODCRAFT'

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(Other definitions for woodcraft that I've seen before include "Carpenter's art?" , "Skill in camping and related pursuits -- card of two (anag)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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