Crossword Genius

Wanting Conservative to be overcome with alarm (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

scarce

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

I don't understand how the remainder of the clue works.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for scarce that I've seen before include "Wanting" , "Hard to get" , "Hardly" , "Few and far between" , "Rarely found" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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