Outside water sports champion? (7)

I believe the answer is:

surface

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'outside' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'water sports champion?' is the wordplay.
'water sports' becomes 'surf' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'champion?' becomes 'ace' (both can mean a person excelling at something).
'surf'+'ace'='SURFACE'

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(Other definitions for surface that I've seen before include "Come up for air" , "Outer appearance" , "Worktop" , "Outside layer" , "Facade" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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