Crossword Genius

Steel, for example, and half of that gold-plated? (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

author

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'steel' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't see how they can define each other.

'and half of that gold-plated?' is the wordplay.
'and' becomes 'with'.
'half of' indicates taking half.
'that' becomes 'au' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'gold' becomes 'or' ('or' is the heraldic name for gold).
'plated?' means one lot of letters goes inside another (plated can mean covered or coated).
'with' halved is 'th'.
'au'+'or'='auor'
'th' placed into 'auor' is 'AUTHOR'.

'for example' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for author that I've seen before include "Producer of written work" , "Ford, for example" , "Originate" , "Creative artist" , "One writes" .)

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