Crossword Genius

Three successive characters, having fish, pay (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

defray

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

'pay' is the definition.
(I know that defray is a more specific form of pay)

'three successive characters having fish' is the wordplay.
'three successive characters' becomes 'def' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'having' says to put letters next to each other.
'fish' becomes 'ray' (ray is a kind of fish).
'def'+'ray'='DEFRAY'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for defray that I've seen before include "Cover (financially)" , "Meet the costs of" , "Cover the cost of" , "clear" , "Bear the expenses of" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app