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Small part of crew that's taking time on harbour (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

eightieth

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'small part' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both relationships as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?

'crew that's taking time on harbour' is the wordplay.
'crew' becomes 'eight' (an eight-person rowing team).
'that's' becomes 'ie' (abbreviation for 'id est', 'that is' in Latin).
'taking' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'time on harbour' becomes 'th' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'eight'+'ie'+'th'='EIGHTIETH'

'of' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for eightieth that I've seen before include "Ordinal number" , "A fraction equal to one-and-a-quarter percent" , "final day of circumnavigation" , "Tee it high (anag)" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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