Crossword Genius

American with bald pate oddly plastic (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

adaptable

'plastic' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'american with bald pate oddly' is the wordplay.
'american' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'oddly' indicates an anagram.
'bald'+'pate'='baldpate'
'baldpate' with letters rearranged gives 'daptable'.
'a'+'daptable'='ADAPTABLE'

(Other definitions for adaptable that I've seen before include "having different uses?" , "Able to be modified" , "Flexible, adjustable" , "Open to modification" , "Can be suited to different conditions" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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