Crossword Genius

Bone found in vegetarian spread; without hesitation, Mike leaves (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

humerus

'bone' is the definition.
(humerus is a kind of bone)

'vegetarian spread without hesitation mike leaves' is the wordplay.
'vegetarian spread' becomes 'humus'.
'without' means one lot of letters goes inside another ('without' can be similar in meaning to 'outside').
'hesitation' becomes 'erm'.
'mike' becomes 'm' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'leaves' suggests deleting specific letters.
'erm' with 'm' removed is 'er'.
'humus' enclosing 'er' is 'HUMERUS'.

'found in' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for humerus that I've seen before include "Bone from shoulder to elbow" , "Upper arm bone" , "Bone that sounds funny?" , "Arm bone (that sounds comical)" , "What's often thought funny" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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