Not failing like ships in the night? (7)
I believe the answer is:
passing
'not failing' is the definition.
('pass' is the opposite to 'fail')
'like ships in the night?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'like' could be 'as' and 'as' is located in the answer.
'in' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
(Other definitions for passing that I've seen before include "Overtaking" , "Short-lived - death" , "Ephemeral" , "Casual - death" .)