Old boys crave figures (7)

I believe the answer is:

oblongs

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

'figures' is the definition.
(oblong is a kind of figure)

'old boys crave' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'old' could be 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English) and 'o' is found within the answer.
'crave' could be 'long' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'long' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for oblongs that I've seen is " Rectangles".)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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