Crossword Genius

Tiny portion of a soft item (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

particle

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

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

'a soft item' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is found in the answer.
'soft' could be 'p' (musical abbreviation for 'piano', soft) and 'p' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'of' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for particle that I've seen before include "Small amount" , "Prelatic (anag.)" , "Speck of matter" , "Minute portion" , "Minute piece of matter" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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