Crossword Genius

Refuse to take sides and suppress article on dodgy salesperson (3,2,3,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sit on the fence

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'refuse to take sides' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot tell whether this works.

'suppress article on dodgy salesperson' is the wordplay.
'suppress' becomes 'sit on' (I've seen this before).
'article on dodgy salesperson' becomes 'thefence' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'siton'+'thefence'='SIT ON THE FENCE'

'and' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for sit on the fence that I've seen before include "Refuse to commit oneself" , "Don't commit oneself" , "pin down criminal" , "Be unwilling to commit oneself" , "Remain undecided" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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