Crossword Genius

Cross first of roads passed round by driver (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

crabby

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

'cross' is the definition.
(I know that cross can be written as crabby)

'round by driver' is the wordplay.
'round' is an insertion indicator.
'by' becomes 'r' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'driver' becomes 'cabby' (cabby is a kind of driver).
'r' placed into 'cabby' is 'CRABBY'.

'first of roads passed' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for crabby that I've seen before include "like one playing with sea? Just so" , "Irritable - like a crustacean?" , "Grumpy like crustacean" , "like a hermit?" , "Peevish" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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