Crossword Genius

You do office jobs the old-fashioned way? Rather a blow (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

tempest

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

'a blow' is the definition.
(I have seen 'Big blow' mean 'tempest' so perhaps 'blow' could also mean 'tempest')

'you do office jobs the old-fashioned way? rather' 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 located in the answer.
'way?' could be 'st' (abbreviation for street) and 'st' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for tempest that I've seen before include "Shakespeare play with storm scene" , "Violent windstorm" , "Shakespearean storm?" , "Met pets in fierce storm" , "Wild storm" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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