Completed a meal - while flying? (3,2)
I believe the answer is:
ate up
'while flying?' is the definition.
The answer and definition are different parts of speech. However, adjectives and past participle verbs occasionally mean the same thing.
'completed a meal' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'completed' could be 'up' (up can mean completed or finished) and 'up' is present in the answer.
'a' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'te' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ate up that I've seen before include "Absorbed" , "preoccupied" , "Squandered" .)