Gradually putting a time next to another (3-2-3)
I believe the answer is:
day-by-day
'gradually' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a time next to another' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is found in the answer.
'time' could be 'day' (day is a kind of time) and 'day' is present in the answer.
'next to' could be 'by' and 'by' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'putting' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for day-by-day that I've seen before include "Gradually, as time passes" , "As time goes by" .)