Crossword Genius

Kiss that's slightly under par (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

birdie

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

'slightly under par' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both quantities as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?

'kiss that's' is the wordplay.
'kiss' becomes 'bird' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'that's' becomes 'ie' (abbreviation for 'id est', 'that is' in Latin).
'bird'+'ie'='BIRDIE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for birdie that I've seen before include "One watched" , "Golf score of one stroke under par" , "Good hole" , "low score" , "In golf, a score of one under par for the hole" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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