Crossword Genius

He takes the red-eye special to avoid creditors (3-2-5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

fly-by-night

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

'he takes the red-eye special to avoid creditors' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.

'he takes the' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'he' could be 'ly' and 'ly' is found in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for fly-by-night that I've seen before include "Unreliable, untrustworthy" , "Untrustworthy person, likely to abscond" , "Unreliable - person who departs secretly to avoid debts" , "Cowboy" , "Unreliable (in business)" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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