Crossword Genius

A salad green diminished spread? (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

acres

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'spread?' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't see how they can define each other.

'a salad green diminished' is the wordplay.
'salad green' becomes 'cress' (cress is a kind of salad green).
'diminished' means to remove the last letter.
'cress' with its final letter taken off is 'cres'.
'a'+'cres'='ACRES'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for acres that I've seen before include "Rival played" , "lots" , "farmland maybe?" , "Extensive landed property (often rolling)" , "Cares about these measurements?" .)

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