Classic racer slowed down by greed for apples (8)
I believe the answer is:
atalanta
'classic racer' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'slowed down by greed for apples' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'by' could be 'at' and 'at' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for atalanta that I've seen before include "Greek huntress defeated in a running race" , "classically fast runner" , "Greek runner" , "Swinburne wrote - in Calydon" , "hunter" .)