Crossword Genius

American with endearing accent (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

acute

'accent' is the definition.
(acute is a kind of accent)

'american with endearing' is the wordplay.
'american' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names).
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'endearing' becomes 'cute' (I've seen this before).
'a'+'cute'='ACUTE'

(Other definitions for acute that I've seen before include "Canny" , "Short and severe" , "(Of an angle) less than 90deg" , "Penetrating; accent" , "Quick-witted" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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