Crossword Genius

Island’s importance, short of energy (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

wight

'island's' is the definition.
(Isle of Wight)

'importance short of energy' is the wordplay.
'importance' becomes 'weight' (weight is a kind of importance).
'short of' suggests deleting specific letters.
'energy' becomes 'e' (physics symbol as in E=mc2).
'weight' with 'e' removed is 'WIGHT'.

(Other definitions for wight that I've seen before include "Solent isle" , "Courageous < creature" , "South coast island" , "Solent island" , "Sea area in the English Channel" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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