When I can't break into the safe, contrive to use my wiles (9)

I believe the answer is:

fascinate

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'contrive to use my wiles' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'when i can't break into the safe' is the wordplay.
'when' becomes 'as' (eg 'when I walked' means 'as I walked').
'break' indicates anagramming the letters.
'into' is an insertion indicator.
'the safe' becomes 'fe' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'i'+'cant'='icant'
'icant' is an anagram of 'cinat'.
'as'+'cinat'='ascinat'
'ascinat' put into 'fe' is 'FASCINATE'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for fascinate that I've seen before include "Charm" , "Irresistibly interest" , "Intrigue" , "Captivate" , "Enchant - beguile" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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