Middle of finest park uptown is close by (6)

I believe the answer is:

nearto

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'middle' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'finest park uptown is close by' is the wordplay.
'finest park uptown' becomes 'to' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'is close' becomes 'near' (similar in meaning).
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'to' put after 'near' is 'NEARTO'.

'of' acts as a link.

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I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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