Crossword Genius

Greedy? Near being converted when enveloped in my goodness (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

mercenary

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'greedy?' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'near being converted when enveloped in my goodness' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'near' is 'enar' which is within the answer.
'when' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is present in the answer.
'being' could be 'mr' (Mr is an example) and 'mr' is present in the remaining letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for mercenary that I've seen before include "Acting for money" , "Soldier of fortune" , "Soldier for hire" , "Professional soldier hired by foreign country" , "Professional soldier serving in a foreign army" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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