Crossword Genius

Gold rush period (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

august

'period' is the definition.
(I know that August is a type of calendar month)

'gold rush' is the wordplay.
'gold' becomes 'Au' (Au is the chemical symbol for gold).
'rush' becomes 'gust' (I have seen 'Rush of wind ' mean 'gust' so perhaps 'rush' could also mean 'gust').
'au'+'gust'='AUGUST'

(Other definitions for august that I've seen before include "days in summer" , "It follows 8" , "when students are down?" , "Distinguished" , "For Edna O'Brien, it was a 27 across month" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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