Harsh remark, made in passing, when banks clean up? (9)
I believe the answer is:
sideswipe
'harsh remark' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are verbs in their base form, I can't see how they can define each other.
'passing when banks clean up?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'banks' could be 'sides' ('side' can be a synonym of 'bank') and 'sides' is located in the answer.
'clean' could be 'wipe' (wipe can mean to clean something down) and 'wipe' is found within the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'made in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sideswipe that I've seen before include "Criticism" , "Glancing blow" , "Passing critical comment" , "Passing stick" , "hardly a terrible blow!" .)