Piece — but not the leader? (7)

I believe the answer is:

article

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'leader?' is the definition.
(leader is a type of newspaper article)

I can't explain the remainder of the clue.

(Other definitions for article that I've seen before include "'The', definitely" , "leader" , "What might be illustrated by a" , "It may be the" , "A rewritten piece" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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