Question Author
Servant girl occupied time tackling 9 minus 1 (5,8)
9 is "cash on delivery" and 1 is "docile" ... so 9 less 1 is "'a s v y h n e r"
The known/believed pattern of the answer is "f?l?e ?h?n?e?r".
This suggests the 5 letter word is "fille" .. which fits with the "girl" part of the clue
And the 8 letter word is an anagram of [9 less 1]
But none of this seems to work.
"fille chanteur" will fit .. but female singer is more correctly "chanteusse" .. and in any case what is the connection with servant and singer
H-E-L-P