Guardian Prize -Last One - Parsing Please

[JJ109]

Sad lover"s essentially missing you (7) S _ L _ E _ S

I think that the answer is "Solvers" = ("sad"/anagram of) "lover's" + S = Solvers (you), but why does "essentially missing" = "S"

Many thanks

[Mamyalynne]

Middle letter of missing

[iminoz]

I think 'essentially' means, 'at the heart of', so it's the middle letter of 'misSing'

[JJ109]

Thank you both Mamyalynne and Iminoz - that makes sense