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Retro sort of hit by Love or the Stones? (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

opals

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

'retro sort of hit by love' is the wordplay.
'retro' says the letters should be written in reverse (retro is Latin for 'backwards').
'sort of hit' becomes 'slap' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'love' becomes 'o' (love means zero in tennis).
'slap'+'o'='slapo'
'slapo' backwards is 'OPALS'.

'or' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for opals that I've seen before include "Milky gemstones with delicate colours" , "Precious stones" , "Iridescent gems" , "Semi-precious stones of milky or bluish colour" , "Translucent gemstones" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sunday Times and The Times.
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