Crossword Genius

Girl writer, given time, squandered (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

misspent

'squandered' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'girl writer given time' is the wordplay.
'girl' becomes 'miss' (I've seen this before**).
'writer' becomes 'pen' (I've seen this before).
'given' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'time' becomes 't'.
'miss'+'pen'+'t'='MISSPENT'

(Other definitions for misspent that I've seen before include "Dissipated" , "youth? Sort of" , "wasted away?" , "Passed the time unwisely, as a youth perhaps" , "Squandered" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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