Crossword Genius

On meeting old Les: 'Fantastic - we haven't met in yonks' (4,4,2,3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

long time no see

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'we haven't met in yonks' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'on meeting old les fantastic' is the wordplay.
'old' becomes 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English).
'fantastic' indicates an anagram (a fantastic or improbable ordering of the letters).
'on'+'meeting'+'o'+'les'='onmeetingoles'
'onmeetingoles' with letters rearranged gives 'LONG TIME NO SEE'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for long time no see that I've seen before include "returned at last" , "one repeatedly denied preferment?" , "It's ages since we met" , "Finally we meet again!" , "Haven't met you for ages!" .)

Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app