Crossword Genius

Hit bar, having left foremost of pubs for King's Head (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

strike

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

'hit' is the definition.
(I know that hit can be written as strike)

'bar having left foremost of pubs for king's head' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'bar' could be 't' (T-bar is a part of a ski lift) and 't' is found in the answer.
'king' could be 'r' (abbreviation for rex, king in Latin) and 'r' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'sike' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for strike that I've seen before include "Hit with picket?" , "Make a sudden large financial gain" , "Form of industrial action" , "Sudden success" , "Agree on" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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