Sprout fur around a time after midnight (9)
I believe the answer is:
germinate
'sprout' is the definition.
('germinate' can be a synonym of 'sprout')
'fur around a time after midnight' is the wordplay.
'fur' becomes 'ermine' (ermine is a kind of fur**).
'around' is an insertion indicator.
'time' becomes 't'.
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'midnight' becomes 'g'.
'a'+'t'='at'
'ermine' enclosing 'at' is 'erminate'.
'erminate' after 'g' is 'GERMINATE'.
(Other definitions for germinate that I've seen before include "Put forth shoots, develop and grow" , "Sprout - develop" , "Spring up" , "come to life" , "(Of seed) start to shoot" .)