Cryptic crossword clue
Keeping his head, top-class corporal maybe competes for fish 9

The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word ANCHOVIES

I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
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The straight part
We know that "fish" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case fish = anchovies.
The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.
This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.

What does ANCHOVIES mean?

ANCHOVIES noun
  1. Any small saltwater fish of the Engraulidae family, consisting of 160 species in 16 genera, of which the genus Engraulis is widely sold as food.

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