Crossword Genius

Visit restaurant and pass on nothing to eavesdroppers (4,3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

dine out

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

'visit restaurant and pass on nothing to eavesdroppers' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'and pass on nothing to eavesdroppers' is the wordplay.
'and' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation for 'and').
'pass' becomes 'die' (as in passing away).
'on' indicates putting letters inside (as in clothing 'on' a person).
'nothing' becomes 'O' (looks like zero - 0).
'to eavesdroppers' becomes 'ut' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'n' inserted into 'die' is 'dine'.
'dine'+'o'+'ut'='DINE OUT'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for dine out that I've seen before include "Eat in a restaurant" , "Eat away from home" , "Use a restaurant" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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