Crossword Genius

Fish with squirming maggot on line? (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

whitebait

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

'fish' is the definition.
(whitebait is a kind of fish)

'with squirming maggot on line?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'with' is 'whit' which is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for whitebait that I've seen before include "Small fried fish" , "Small edible fish" , "Fish eaten in quantity" , "Small silvery fish, the fry of herring" , "Small fry as food" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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