Crossword Genius

Uncovered menu with duck salad ingredient (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

endive

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'salad ingredient' is the definition.
(vegetable used in salads)

'uncovered menu with duck' is the wordplay.
'uncovered' says to take the centre.
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'duck' becomes 'dive' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
The centre of 'menu' is 'en'.
'en'+'dive'='ENDIVE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for endive that I've seen before include "Type of chicory" , "Salad plant with crisp curly leaves" , "Curly-leaved plant used as salad" , "Envied the salad green badly" , "Portion of salad" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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