Roguish Italian sweetheart contends with designer? (9)

I believe the answer is:

architect

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'designer?' is the definition.
(I know that designer can be written as architect)

'roguish italian sweetheart contends' is the wordplay.
'roguish' becomes 'arch' (I've seen this before).
'italian' becomes 'it' (common abbreviation).
'sweetheart' becomes 'e' (the heart/centre of 'sweet').
'contends' becomes 'ct' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'arch'+'it'+'e'+'ct'='ARCHITECT'

'with' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for architect that I've seen before include "Building designer" , "Designer of buildings" , "professional" , "Perhaps Scott" , "Author" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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