Crossword Genius

Mash of poorest quality, but not quite (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

tatties

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'mash of poorest' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'quality but not quite' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'quality' could be 'tat' (tat is a kind of quality) and 'tat' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ties' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for tatties that I've seen is " things growing in the ground".)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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