Crossword Genius

French novelist briefly keeping island bird (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

coletit

'bird' is the definition.

'french novelist briefly keeping island' is the wordplay.
'french novelist' becomes 'colette' (French novelist Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette).
'briefly' means to remove the last letter.
'keeping' is an insertion indicator.
'island' becomes 'i'.
'colette' with its final letter taken away is 'colett'.
'colett' going around 'i' is 'COLETIT'.

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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