Crossword Genius

Make contact with skin, scraping the top: the reaction? (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

ouch

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

'top the reaction?' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'make contact with skin scraping' is the wordplay.
'make contact with' becomes 'ou' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'skin' suggests removing the centre.
'scraping' becomes 'coming up with' ('come up with' can be a synonym of 'scrape').
'comingupwith' with its middle removed is 'ch'.
'ou'+'ch'='OUCH'

'the' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for ouch that I've seen before include "Pained sound" , "Pained exclamation" , "Ruby, perhaps once in it" , "that's painful" , "that hurts!" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app