Developing public disturbance in which Democrat becomes sanctimonious (9)
I believe the answer is:
incipient
'developing' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'public disturbance in which democrat becomes sanctimonious' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'in' is within the answer.
'sanctimonious' could be 'pi' (old-fashioned term for pious) and 'pi' is found within 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 incipient that I've seen before include "Nascent" , "Starting to happen" , "Beginning to develop" , "Beginning to exist, in an early stage" , "Developing" .)