Crossword Genius

Elegant fellows who started flying on operations (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

fops

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'elegant fellows' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I don't see?

'started flying on operations' is the wordplay.
'started' indicates taking the first letters.
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (in a down clue, letters appear on others).
'operations' becomes 'ops' (abbreviation).
The initial letter of 'flying' is 'f'.
'f'+'ops'='FOPS'

'who' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for fops that I've seen before include "People concerned with appearance" , "Dandies, overdressed men" , "People affected" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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