Crossword Genius

Long for oxygen during hard exercise (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

hope

'long for' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'oxygen during hard exercise' is the wordplay.
'oxygen' becomes 'o' (atomic symbol for oxygen).
'during' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'hard' becomes 'h'.
'exercise' becomes 'pe' (Physical Education).
'h'+'pe'='hpe'
'o' inserted into 'hpe' is 'HOPE'.

(Other definitions for hope that I've seen before include "virtue he needs?" , "Trustful expectation" , "English novelist" , "Expect and wish" , "The Cape of Good -" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.