Crossword Genius

Pit workers abandoned short race? (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

orchestra

'pit workers' is the definition.
(people working in the orchestra pit in a theatre)

'abandoned short race?' is the wordplay.
'abandoned' indicates an anagram (the original order is abandoned).
'short'+'race'='shortrace'
'shortrace' is an anagram of 'ORCHESTRA'.

(Other definitions for orchestra that I've seen before include "Theatre area for musicians" , "players in pit" , "Gamelan, for instance" , "Large band of musicians" , "Group of musicians found on cart-horse" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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