Crossword Genius

Drink packed with fruit, and cheers for the sausage (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

chipolata

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

'drink packed with fruit and cheers' is the wordplay.
'drink' becomes 'cola' (cola is a type of drink).
'packed with' is an insertion indicator.
'fruit' becomes 'hip' (fruit of a rose plant).
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'cheers' becomes 'ta' (both can informally mean thank you).
'cola' going around 'hip' is 'chipola'.
'chipola'+'ta'='CHIPOLATA'

'for the' is the link.

(Other definitions for chipolata that I've seen before include "Type of sausage" , "Small thin sausage" , "Party snack" , "banger" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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