Rebbe Akiva And The קוצים

This post is the first half of a two part piece of Lag B'omer.  The Gemorah in Menachos (29b) says that Rebbe Akiva was דורש על כל קוץ וקוץ תילי תילים של הלכות.  Why do Chazal use the term קוץ וקוץ?  The Gemorah in Menachos indicates that this is something greater about Rebbe Akiva over Moshe Rabbenu.  As the Maharal says how could it possibly be that Rebbe Akiva is greater than Moshe Rabbenu חס ושלום?  And why is it specifically Rebbe Akiva that had this methodology of derush?
There is a major difference between the upbringing of Moshe Rabbenu and that of Rebbe Akiva.  Moshe Rabbenu was born to Amrom, whom Chazal call the gadol hador.  He was born into a family where even the kids were prophets and additionally in his own right  Chazal say when he was born  נתמלא הבית אורה etc.  He was destined to greatness from the very beginning. (Not like the Teferes Yisroel end of Kiddushin.)  Moshe Rabbenu is the epitome of the tzaddik gamor that has no connection to evil at all.  Rebbe Akiva's יחוס was far from perfect.  According to various texts in Sanhedrin (96b,) Rebbe Akiva was a descendant of Sisra, a goy that fought against Klal Yisroel.  Not only were his roots shaky, but in his own life he was a complete ignoramus until age 40.  He is the epitome of the baal teshuva, one who turned evil into great.
A few weeks ago this blog explained how קוץ, the numerical value of 196, is the difference between ד and ר, where ד is a good letter (ה' אחד)and ר a bad one (אל אחר.)  The letters of the Torah facilitate a simple read; they represent the straight path of the tzaddik.  The קוצים are the parts of the Torah where the message is unclear.  They show the path of the baal teshuva where the Divine light is greatly covered over and must be dug out of great darkness.  This path is not a straight path but is jagged like the shapes of the קוצים.  The קןץ contain the secret for how to find holyniss in that which seems so bereft of it.  R.A. was דורש the קוצין not because he was greater than Moshe but because they contained the message for his life, not Moshe's.  Moshe's path was contained in the words, R.A.'s in the קןצים.  [I am assuming that the קוץ is the כתרים on the letters like the ערוך seems to say, not like the essay of Shlomo Naeh in לשוננו אדר תש"ע  that it means many parshios, that I will leave for the scholars.]  That is reflected in the end of the Gemorah where Moshe Rabbenu asks  אמר לפניו רבונו של עולם הראיתני תורתו הראני שכרו אמר לו חזור [לאחורך] חזר לאחוריו ראה ששוקלין בשרו במקולין אמר לפניו רבש"ע זו תורה וזו שכרה א"ל שתוק כך עלה במחשבה לפני.  In the prism of complete goodness, Moshe Rabbenu couldn't fathom how such a cruel punishment could befall R.A.  It is only in the world of R.A.,גם זו לטובה that even that which appears to be evil is transformed into a positive.  [See Maharal Tiferes Yisroel Ch. 63.]