Crossword Genius

Service ends prematurely with hotel food (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

mash

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'food' is the definition.
(mashed potato)

'service ends prematurely with hotel' is the wordplay.
'service ends prematurely' becomes 'mas' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'hotel' becomes 'h' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'mas'+'h'='MASH'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for mash that I've seen before include "Pured potato" , "Animal feed" , "It goes well with sausages" , "Accompaniment of bangers" , "Reduce to pulp" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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