Crossword Genius

Uncommon panic about Conservative (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

scarce

'uncommon' is the definition.
(scarce means rare or uncommon)

'panic about conservative' is the wordplay.
'panic' becomes 'scare' (synonyms).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'conservative' becomes 'C' (UK political abbreviation).
'scare' enclosing 'c' is 'SCARCE'.

(Other definitions for scarce that I've seen before include "Uncommon" , "Like gold dust" , "Not often found" , "Hard to get" , "Rarely seen" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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