Steals or cooks pies, by the way (6)
I believe the answer is:
swipes
'steals' is the definition.
(swiping is a kind of stealing)
'cooks pies by the way' is the wordplay.
'cooks' is an anagram indicator.
'by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'the way' becomes 'sw' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'pies' anagrammed gives 'ipes'.
'ipes' after 'sw' is 'SWIPES'.
'or' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for swipes that I've seen before include "Removes" , "Sweeping motions" , "completes transaction with credit card" , "Puts (card) through reader; steals" , "Makes off with" .)