Crossword Genius

Fly-by-night! (3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

bat

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

'fly-by-night' is the definition.
(animal which flies at night)

'fly-by' is the wordplay.
'fly' becomes 'b' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'by' becomes 'at'.
'b'+'at'='BAT'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for bat that I've seen before include "Cricket implement or flying mammal" , "Pipistrelle" , "Nocturnal flier" , "once wielded by 60 [GREIG]" , "Small winged mammal, may be vampire" .)

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