Crossword Genius

Mainly regret I abandoned rewritten film (5,6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

elmer gantry

'film' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'mainly regret i abandoned rewritten' is the wordplay.
'abandoned' suggests deleting specific letters.
'rewritten' is an anagram indicator.
'mainly'+'regret'='mainlyregret'
'mainlyregret' with 'i' taken out is 'manlyregret'.
'manlyregret' with letters rearranged gives 'ELMER GANTRY'.

(Another definition for elmer gantry that I've seen is " Film".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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