It's small and essentially superficial (5)

I believe the answer is:

facet

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'it's' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'small and essentially superficial' is the wordplay.
'small and' becomes 'face' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'essentially' says to take the centre.
'superficial' becomes 'outer' (I've seen this in another clue).
The middle letter of 'outer' is 't'.
'face'+'t'='FACET'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for facet that I've seen before include "view" , "Smooth surface of a gem" , "Side of a cut gem" , "Characteristic" , "Aspect - smooth cut surface" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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