Spies sat about gathering in information (6)
I believe the answer is:
agents
'spies' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'sat about gathering in information' is the wordplay.
'about' indicates an anagram.
'gathering' indicates putting letters inside.
'in information' becomes 'gen' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'sat' with letters rearranged gives 'ats'.
'ats' placed around 'gen' is 'AGENTS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for agents that I've seen before include "Sales reps" , "They operate on behalf of others" , "They act for others" , "Spies" , "travelling salesmen" .)