Crossword Genius

A less warm-hearted Maria (3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

mia

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

'a less' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot judge whether this works.

'warm-hearted maria' is the wordplay.
'warm' becomes 'summery'.
'hearted' indicates the central letters.
'maria' becomes 'ia' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
The central letter of 'summery' is 'm'.
'm'+'ia'='MIA'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for mia that I've seen before include "girl" , "- - Farrow, actress" .)

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