Is there a reasonably polite way of avoiding smalltalk?

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Maybe you could also just say (in a polite manner, of course): "Sorry, I'm not very good at smalltalk"? and just be honest?
I think we often guess that we have to hide that we are not good at it, and hence find a smart trick or way to avoid it. (I'm like that myself, because we have a very deep-rooted idea that it's rude to say so, even if we say it politely - as if smalltalk were kind of a "holy" pattern that must not be disturbed?)
But sometimes, to people who know I'm aspie, I say "sorry, but I'm not very good at that kind of talk today". And they respect it, and know that they're not supposed to take it personally.
But the most difficult is when people ask me (many) questions, I would prefer that they had something to tell themselves afterwards instead of keeping on asking questions (they don't wait for the answer anyway before they ask a new one...), but then I guess I have to crossexaminate them, and I'm not good at that either.

Small talk is one of the reasons I hate being in a group. If it's just me and one other person (depending on who they are), I can get comfortable and begin to discuss something with some depth. But if there are three or four people standing around, then that's too many people to "read", and I think I might be able to say such-and-such to person A, but I might offend or confuse person B. In other words, I feel much more like I have to be on guard and watch what I say. I've noticed that if I do talk in a group, I'm soon aware of all eyes on me, and they seem to be saying, "Yeah...well...where are you going with this?" And then when I'm done, there's that little silence, and then the conversation picks up at a different point.

Maybe that's the appeal of small talk. You can be gabbing away, feeling like you're making a connection with another human being, but you don't have to worry that you are going to offend them. I think small talk is often mostly people blindly agreeing with each other. You know, like:

"Hot enough for you?"
"Oh, isn't it, though? Unseasonably so! I thought it would be cool, so I wore a jacket."
"Oh, I know! Who knew it would get hotter in the afternoon? What happened to fall?"
"Oh, I know!"
"And so humid. How did it get so humid?"
"Oh I know! It's not the heat, it's the humidity. You really feel it."
"Oh, don't you, though? Isn't it humid? It's so humid! And hot."
"Oh, it IS hot!"
"My husband loves the heat."
"OMG!! !! !! !! Mine does too!! !! !!"
"OMG!! !! !! !! !! !!"

And if it's women (do men even have conversations like that?) the voices get higher pitched with each line, so before long, crystal glasses are breaking left and right.

Ways of avoiding small talk?before it starts?

There are a couple things I've found that work...

* when walking and don't want a conversation, get out your cell phone and keep checking it
occasionally.This cuts off eye contact in socially acceptable manner and says "I can't talk now.
I'm busy.

* lunch hour in the office, a crossword puzzle works wonders.Again, it signals to "average" person
please don't talk to me without actually saying "please don't' talk to me".Thus sparing them
hurt feelings and sparing yourself unwanted social contact w/o looking like a jerk.

* books,laptops,notebooks, and other objects perform similar functions

I notice people stop talking to me after a few minutes, I assume it's because I suck at talking to them and they think I'm rude. Even when I'm actively trying to be nice and friendly (which doesn't happy too often, I must admit. Most of the time I'm interested even in the slightest, but sometimes I have good days.) I think I fail miserably, cause they stop talking to me after a minute or two.

Wow, I was having this exact problem this morning, with a guy who came to fix my window.

I avoid small talk by a) avoiding situations where I might be called upon to small talk, or b) if I can't avoid them, picking the least boring-seeming person in the group and starting a conversation with them about something that interests me, before I can be hijacked by a boring person. If I end up talking to a boring person, I do what elderwanda said - I agree with everything they say. Conversations peter out much faster if everybody is agreeing with one another than if they start debating opposing viewpoints.

Or......

A person can choose to view "small talk" as a skill set, like typing or driving a car, and develop that skill.
Instead of avoiding it (which is almost impossible to do ALL the time) work on perfecting it.
Dissect the components, analyze the timing of the exchange. All of it is quite fascinating.