Crossword Genius

Face villain failing to initiate exchange (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

dialogue

'exchange' is the definition.
(an exchange of words)

'face villain failing to initiate' is the wordplay.
'face' becomes 'dial' (face of a clock).
'villain' becomes 'rogue' (rogue is a kind of villain).
'failing to initiate' means to remove the first letter (the word doesn\'t begin or initiate).
'rogue' with its first letter taken off is 'ogue'.
'dial'+'ogue'='DIALOGUE'

(Other definitions for dialogue that I've seen before include "Lines spoken in films, books etc" , "Conversation as in a play" , "The words spoken by characters in a play" , "brought into play perhaps" , "Talks" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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