Crossword Genius

Concentrated but failed to keep quiet (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

distilled

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

'concentrated' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to change as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I don't see?

'failed to keep quiet' is the wordplay.
'failed' becomes 'died' ('die' can be a synonym of 'fail').
'to keep' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'quiet' becomes 'still' (still is a kind of quiet).
'died' enclosing 'still' is 'DISTILLED'.

'but' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for distilled that I've seen before include "Brewed" , "produced whisky" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app