The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 2 plus 6 letter word ET CETERA
I've seen this crossword clue in The Sunday Telegraph
E
T
C
E
T
E
R
A
More clues leading to the result ET CETERA
- Stretched the centre to full length and so on
- Retired sleuth visiting Alpine ridge and similar things
- Film Charlie climbing ridge with others
- Greek character stays erect when aroused, and that’s not all
- Following film, create remake and such like
- . Celtic centre occasionally starts to recruit artists and the like
- Create revolution, following Egypt and the rest
- Greek character touring Crete, swimming and so forth
- Demolished tea-tree around college, and so forth
- Badgers tear around madly and so forth
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Time-saver for writer that we got from Romans" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case time-saver for writer that we got from romans = et cetera.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.