Crossword Genius

Speck, among foremost of Europe's smoked hams (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

emotes

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'hams' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are verbs in their -s form, I can't understand how one could define the other.

'speck among foremost of europe's smoked' is the wordplay.
'speck' becomes 'mote' (synonyms).
'among' is an insertion indicator (inserted letters are placed among others).
'foremost of' says to take the initial letters.
The first letters of 'europes smoked' is 'es'.
'mote' going within 'es' is 'EMOTES'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for emotes that I've seen before include "Acts with show of feelings" , "Gives show of feelings" , "Acts with show of feeling" , "Gushes" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app