Crossword Genius

Upholding a boy exercising a portion of the brain (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

amygdala

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

'portion of the brain' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'upholding a boy exercising a' is the wordplay.
'upholding' says to put letters next to each other (holding on top - in a down clue).
'a boy exercising' becomes 'amygdal' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'amygdal' put next to 'a' is 'AMYGDALA'.

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I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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