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Food, etc., by which to exist at the welfare centre (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

fare

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

'food etc by which' is the definition.
'fare' can be an answer for 'food' (fare is a kind of food). I am unsure of the rest of the definition.

'exist at the welfare centre' is the wordplay.
'exist' becomes 'are' ('they exist' means 'they are').
'at' says to put letters next to each other (I've seen this in other clues).
'centre' says to take the centre.
The centre of 'welfare' is 'f'.
'are' put after 'f' is 'FARE'.

'to' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for fare that I've seen before include "Taxi charge; food" , "Paying passenger" , "What traveller pays" , "Cost of travel" , "Taxi passenger; food" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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