Crossword Genius

Measure length of meal? Too long! (4-9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

time-consuming

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'too long' is the definition.
(something time-consuming takes too long)

'measure length of meal?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'measure' could be 'time' (time is a kind of measure) and 'time' is found in the answer.
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for time-consuming that I've seen before include "Prolonged" , "Taking a long while" , "Protracted" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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