Play in a clever way, i.e. quickly (7)

Here is my best explanation:

'quickly' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'play in a clever way i' is the wordplay.
'play' becomes 'harp' (harping is a kind of playing).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'a clever way i' becomes 'sly' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'harp' inserted into 'sly' is 'SHARPLY'.

'e' is the link.
This may not be correct. It may belong to another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?