Crossword Genius

Searches for food, taking a very long time (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

forages

'searches' is the definition.
(I know this)

'for food taking a very long time' is the wordplay.
'food' becomes 'a' (A is an example).
'taking' is a deletion indicator.
'very long time' becomes 'ages' (ages can mean a very long period).
'ages' with 'a' taken away is 'ges'.
'for'+'a'+'ges'='FORAGES'

(Another definition for forages that I've seen is " Searches out food".)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Independent.
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