On reflection, what one might have said on meeting river with a religious leader (9)
I believe the answer is:
ayatollah
'religious leader' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'on reflection what one might have said on meeting river with a' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'on' could be 'at' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'at' is found in the answer.
'one' could be 'a' (a thing is one thing) and 'a' is present in the answer.
'a' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ayatollah that I've seen before include "Shiite leader, possibly in 10 across" , "religious authority" , "Religious high-up" , "High-ranking Shiite religious leader" , "Muslim leader" .)