Concentrate less, getting left out, hence missing opening (7)

I believe the answer is:

essence

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'concentrate less' is the definition.
'essence' can be an answer for 'concentrate' (thesaurus). I'm not sure about the 'less' bit.

'left out hence missing opening' is the wordplay.
'left out' becomes 'ess' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'missing opening' means to remove the first letter.
'hence' with its initial letter removed is 'ence'.
'ess'+'ence'='ESSENCE'

'getting' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for essence that I've seen before include "Intrinsic quality" , "Nice fuel" , "required property" , "Soul" , "Concentrated liquid flavouring" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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