Crossword Genius

Middle age comes with depletion of lustre (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

gloss

'lustre' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'middle age comes with depletion' is the wordplay.
'middle' indicates the central letters.
'comes with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'depletion' becomes 'loss'.
The middle of 'age' is 'g'.
'g'+'loss'='GLOSS'

'of' is the link.

(Other definitions for gloss that I've seen before include "High shine" , "Very shiny finish" , "Show" , "marginal note" , "phrase's explanation" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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