Warranting of French helping (9)
I believe the answer is:
deserving
'warranting' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are present participle verbs, I don't understand how one could define the other.
'of french helping' is the wordplay.
'of french' becomes 'de' ('of' in French).
'helping' becomes 'serving' (a helping is a serving of food).
'de'+'serving'='DESERVING'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for deserving that I've seen before include "Meritorious" , "Worthy of favourable treatment" , "Expecting to receive" .)