Crossword Genius

American breaking into huge unknown religious building (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

monastery

'religious building' is the definition.

'american breaking into huge unknown' is the wordplay.
'american' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names).
'breaking into' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'huge' becomes 'monster' (I've seen this before**).
'unknown' becomes 'y' (algebra).
'a' going into 'monster' is 'monaster'.
'monaster'+'y'='MONASTERY'

(Other definitions for monastery that I've seen before include "Religious establishment" , "One vows to stay here" , "Community of monks" , "Where brothers gather" , "brother's house" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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