Mass association of king and clergy member shortly in church area? (7)
I believe the answer is:
service
'mass association' is the definition.
'service' can be an answer for 'mass' (I've seen this before). I'm unsure of the 'association' bit.
'king and clergy member shortly in church area?' is the wordplay.
'king' becomes 'r' (r is abbreviation for rex).
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'clergy member shortly' becomes 'vic' (abbreviation for vicar).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'church area?' becomes 'see' (a see is a bishop's area of jurisdiction ).
'r'+'vic'='rvic'
'rvic' placed within 'see' is 'SERVICE'.
'of' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for service that I've seen before include "following 28 [SILVER]" , "See 15" , "Church ceremony" , "Armed force - assistance" , "Act of worship" .)