Crossword Genius

Nuts and bolts for workers in steel production (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

elements

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'nuts and bolts' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are plural nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?

'workers in steel production' is the wordplay.
'workers' becomes 'men' (man is a kind of worker).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'production' is an anagram indicator.
'steel' is an anagram of 'elets'.
'men' inserted into 'elets' is 'ELEMENTS'.

'for' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for elements that I've seen before include "eg Fire, air" , "Essential parts or the weather" , "Hydrogen, helium, ..." , "Rudiments of a subject" , "Basic principles of the weather" .)

I've seen this clue in the Irish Times.
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