Crossword Genius

Non-university man: old-school worker for instance? (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

arthropod

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

'instance?' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot see how they can define each other.

'non-university man old-school worker' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'man' could be 'art' and 'art' is located in the answer.
'old' could be 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English) and 'o' is located in the answer.
'school' could be 'pod' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'pod' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'for' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for arthropod that I've seen before include "One has external skeleton" , "spider, for example" , "Invertebrate" , "Creature such as insect or crustacean" , "Such as a crustacean or spider" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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