Crossword Genius

Stragglers revealed in the street lights (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

strays

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'stragglers' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are plural nouns, I don't understand how they can define each other.

'the street lights' is the wordplay.
'the street' becomes 'st' (abbreviation).
'lights' becomes 'rays' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'st'+'rays'='STRAYS'

'revealed in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for strays that I've seen before include "Gets lost, wanders away from the track" , "Wanders off the beaten track, gets lost" , "Homeless people's" , "Runaways" , "Wanders off the intended route" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish News.
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