Crossword Genius

Flourish by the river after kicking the last ones out (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

thrive

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

'flourish' is the definition.
(I know that flourish can be written as thrive)

'the river after kicking the last ones out' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is located in the answer.
'river' could be 'r' (abbreviation for river) and 'r' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'hive' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'by' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for thrive that I've seen before include "Prosper, grow well" , "Boom" , "Grow strongly" , "Grow vigorously, flourish" , "Do well, flourish" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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