Crossword Genius

Seed half of cricket pitch, with time before the summer (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

offspring

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

'seed' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'half of cricket pitch with time before the summer' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is found in the answer.
'time' could be 'spring' (time of year) and 'spring' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for offspring that I've seen before include "seed" , "Issue for raising" , "Child" , "Children, issue" , "Progeny" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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