Crossword Genius

Units in church books I encountered with reserve (11)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

centimetres

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

'units' is the definition.
(centimetre is a kind of unit)

'church books i encountered with reserve' is the wordplay.
'church' becomes 'CE' (abbreviation for Church of England).
'books' becomes 'NT' (abbreviation for New Testament).
'encountered' becomes 'met' ('meet' can be a synonym of 'encounter').
'with reserve' becomes 'res' (abbreviation for reserve. I am not sure about the 'with' bit.).
'ce'+'nt'+'i'+'met'+'res'='CENTIMETRES'

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for centimetres that I've seen is " measures".)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app