Crossword Genius

Miss the target? Definitely no! (3,2,1,4,4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

not by a long shot

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

'definitely no' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adverbs. Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?

'miss the target?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'miss' could be 'long' (longing is a kind of missing) and 'long' is found within 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 not by a long shot that I've seen before include "By no means" , "how a tap-in is scored?" .)

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