Crossword Genius

Return of cutter riding the waves on the drink (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

wassailing

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

'return of cutter riding the waves on the drink' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'return of cutter riding the waves on the drink' is the wordplay.
'return of' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'cutter' becomes 'saw' (I've seen this in another clue).
'riding' says to put letters next to each other (in a down clue, some letters go on top of others).
'the waves on the drink' becomes 'sailing' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'saw' in reverse letter order is 'was'.
'was'+'sailing'='WASSAILING'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for wassailing that I've seen before include "revelry" , "merrymaking" , "carousing" , "making merry" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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