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Without thought, approving erasing items before recording receives marks (6-8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

rubber-stamping

'without thought approving' is the definition.
(to rubber-stamp something is to approve it)

'erasing items before recording receives marks' is the wordplay.
'erasing items' becomes 'rubbers'.
'before' says to put letters next to each other.
'recording' becomes 'taping' (taping is a kind of recording).
'receives' indicates putting letters inside.
'marks' becomes 'm' (former German currency).
'taping' enclosing 'm' is 'tamping'.
'rubbers'+'tamping'='RUBBER-STAMPING'

(Another definition for rubber-stamping that I've seen is " Approval on the nod".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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