Pliant, extremely fretful bandleader in enforced absence (8)

I believe the answer is:

flexible

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'pliant' is the definition.
(I know that pliant can be written as flexible)

'extremely fretful bandleader in enforced absence' is the wordplay.
'extremely' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (only the extremes of the word are used).
'bandleader' becomes 'b' (this might be a standard abbreviation I've not previously seen).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'enforced absence' becomes 'exile' (I've seen this before).
'fretful' with its middle removed is 'fl'.
'b' inserted within 'exile' is 'exible'.
'fl'+'exible'='FLEXIBLE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for flexible that I've seen before include "Not hard" , "Not rigid" , "Able to bend without breaking" , "Supple" , "Capable of bending without breaking" .)

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

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