A French female saving time, at first, is unpleasant to listen to (8)
I believe the answer is:
tuneless
'is unpleasant to listen to' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'a french female saving time at' is the wordplay.
'a french female' becomes 'une' ('a' translated into French, feminine).
'saving' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters are kept or saved).
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'at' becomes 'less' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
't'+'less'='tless'
'une' put within 'tless' is 'TUNELESS'.
'first' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tuneless that I've seen before include "spoiled by lack of air?" , "Unmelodious" , "Like some whistling" , "Unpleasant to hear" , "Not melodious" .)