Crossword Genius

Historian missing first by some distance in elite institutions (3,6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

ivy league

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'historian missing first by some distance in elite institutions' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'historian missing first by some distance' is the wordplay.
'historian' becomes 'Livy' (Roman historian).
'missing first' means to remove the first letter.
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'some distance' becomes 'league' ().
'livy' with its first letter taken off is 'ivy'.
'ivy'+'league'='IVY LEAGUE'

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(Other definitions for ivy league that I've seen before include "Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton and Yale" , "Prestigious group of US universities" , "Group of US elite universities" , "Brown is one of its members" , "Group of US colleges with prestigious reputations" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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