Crossword Genius

Location without work diminished community (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

populace

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'community' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'location without work diminished' is the wordplay.
'location' becomes 'place' (place is a kind of location).
'without' is an insertion indicator ('without' can be similar in meaning to 'outside').
'work' becomes 'op' (abbreviation for opus).
'diminished' becomes 'u' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'op'+'u'='opu'
'place' enclosing 'opu' is 'POPULACE'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for populace that I've seen before include "Masses" , "Inhabitants" , "Citizens" , "Residents" , "General public" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sun.
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