Comparison made by petulant judge before new church (5-9)

I believe the answer is:

cross-reference

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'comparison' is the definition.

'petulant judge before new church' is the wordplay.
'petulant' becomes 'cross' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'judge' becomes 'ref' (referee).
'before' becomes 'ere' (poetic term for 'before').
'new' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation eg NT for New Testament).
'church' becomes 'CE' (abbreviation for Church of England).
'cross'+'ref'+'ere'+'n'+'ce'='CROSS-REFERENCE'

'made by' is the link.

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I've seen this clue in The Times.

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