Ringer’s appearance acolytes initially approve of (9)
I believe the answer is:
lookalike
'ringer's' is the definition.
(a dead ringer for someone is their lookalike)
'appearance acolytes initially approve of' is the wordplay.
'appearance' becomes 'look' (look is a kind of appearance).
'initially' suggests taking the first letters.
'approve of' becomes 'like' (like can mean to approve of something).
The first letter of 'acolytes' is 'a'.
'look'+'a'+'like'='LOOKALIKE'
(Other definitions for lookalike that I've seen before include "Copy" , "Doppelganger" , "twin?" , "Double" .)