Finish first at half pace – but in pain? (5)
I believe the answer is:
wince
'in pain?' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to bodily activities as well as being verbs in their base form.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I don't see?
'finish first at half pace' is the wordplay.
'finish first' becomes 'win' (win is a kind of finish. I am not sure about the 'first' bit.**).
'at' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'half' means to take half the letters.
'pace' cut in half is 'ce'.
'win'+'ce'='WINCE'
'but' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for wince that I've seen before include "Recoil with pain" , "Make face showing pain" , "Flinch with pain" , "Shrink" , "show embarrassment" .)