Paying attention while lifting a fifty (6,4)

I believe the answer is:

taking note

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'while lifting a fifty' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot judge whether this works.

'paying attention' is the wordplay.
'paying' becomes 'taking' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'attention' becomes 'note' (I've seen this before).
'taking'+'note'='TAKING NOTE'

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I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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