Number in the sixties, a short way back (9)
I believe the answer is:
yesterday
'number' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'the sixties a short way back' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found in the answer.
'a' is found in the answer.
'way' could be 'rd' (short for road) and 'rd' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for yesterday that I've seen before include "It was finished at midnight" , "Much-recorded song" , "Tue" , "24 hours ago - hit for The Beatles" , "Beatles hit - Thursday" .)