Crossword Genius

Little chap is tired - from mining with his housemates? (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sleepy

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

'little' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?

'chap is tired from mining with his housemates?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'chap' could be 'lee' and 'lee' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'spy' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for sleepy that I've seen before include "One of the Seven Dwarfs" , "Dwarf" , "in retirement?" , "Is inactive" , "Ready to turn in" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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