Smooth stuff a bright boy gets ahead with (5)

I believe the answer is:

rayon

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'ahead with' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'smooth stuff a bright boy' is the wordplay.
'smooth' becomes 'strip' (stripping is a kind of smoothing).
'stuff' says to take the centre (I've seen 'stuffing' mean this).
'bright boy' becomes 'yon' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
The centre of 'strip' is 'r'.
'r'+'a'+'yon'='RAYON'

'gets' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for rayon that I've seen before include "Cellulose fabric" , "Synthetic silk-like fabric" , "Viscose fibre" , "Synthetic fibre" , "Cellulose textile fibre" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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