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Comic actor’s crack — brief piece of dialogue (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

chaplin

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'comic actor's crack brief piece of dialogue' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'crack brief piece of dialogue' is the wordplay.
'crack' becomes 'chap' (chap is a kind of crack).
'brief' means to remove the last letter (a shorter or briefer version of the word).
'piece of dialogue' becomes 'line' (as in an actor's lines).
'line' with its last letter taken away is 'lin'.
'chap'+'lin'='CHAPLIN'

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(Other definitions for chaplin that I've seen before include "Charlie . . . . . . ., great clown of the cinema" , "Old comedy star" , "English silent comedy actor, d. 1977" , "Charlie ......., popular tramp of silent screen" , "Silent film comedian" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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