Crossword Genius

In the outskirts of Los Angeles, snake passes for fish? (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

ladders

'passes for fish?' is the definition.
(fish ladders allow fish to pass through dams)

'in the outskirts of los angeles' is the wordplay.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'the outskirts of' means to remove the middle letters (letters on the edges or outskirts are used).
'angeles' becomes 'adder' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'los' with its centre taken out is 'ls'.
'ls' enclosing 'adder' is 'LADDERS'.

'snake' acts as a link.
This may not be correct. It may belong to another bit of the clue.

(Other definitions for ladders that I've seen before include "they help people to get up" , "Raddles (anag.)" , "Hose runners" , "Climbing aids" , "Sets of steps" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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