Understanding the crowd (9)

I believe the answer is:

gathering

I believe this is a double definition.

'understanding' is the first definition.
('gather' can be a synonym of 'understand')

'crowd' is the second definition.
(a crowd of people)

'the' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for gathering that I've seen before include "party" , "bee" , "Assembly, meeting" , "Harvesting" , "convention?" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph and The Globe and Mail.

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