Crossword Genius

Speed of elderly plane, not the maximum! (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

rate

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

'speed of' is the definition.

'elderly plane not the maximum' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'rae' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for rate that I've seen before include "See 16" , "See 12" , "Tear up in tempo" , "Amount measured against another" , "Think highly of; criticise severely" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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