Crossword Genius

Unusual ban on lover expressing love using hand gestures? (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

nonverbal

'using hand gestures?' is the definition.
(using nonverbal signals)

'unusual ban on lover expressing love' is the wordplay.
'unusual' is an anagram indicator.
'expressing' suggests deleting specific letters.
'love' becomes 'o' (love means zero in tennis).
'ban'+'on'+'lover'='banonlover'
'banonlover' with 'o' taken away is 'bannlover'.
'bannlover' anagrammed gives 'NONVERBAL'.

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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