Gold rush essentially limiting blow for empire builder (8)
I believe the answer is:
augustus
'empire builder' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I don't see?
'gold rush essentially limiting blow' is the wordplay.
'gold' becomes 'Au' (Au is the chemical symbol for gold).
'essentially' says to take the centre.
'limiting' indicates putting letters inside.
'blow' becomes 'gust' (as in a gust of wind).
The central letters of 'rush' are 'us'.
'au'+'us'='auus'
'auus' going around 'gust' is 'AUGUSTUS'.
'for' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for augustus that I've seen before include "Fort --, Scottish town" , "one whose name was John?" , "head for Rome" , "old ruler" , "Successor to Julius Caesar" .)