Crossword Genius

A huge success for Ashley 'Rocky' Smith outside (5-3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

smash-hit

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

'a huge success' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'ashley rocky smith outside' is the wordplay.
'ashley' becomes 'ash' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'rocky' indicates anagramming the letters.
'outside' indicates putting letters inside.
'smith' is an anagram of 'smhit'.
'ash' inserted within 'smhit' is 'SMASH-HIT'.

'for' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for smash-hit that I've seen before include "Very successful show" , "Very successful song, film etc" , "'Overwhelming success, of a song say (5,3)'" , "Really successful song" , "Extremely successful play - quite shattering" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times and the Irish Times (Crosaire).
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