English churchman taking turn in courtyard trembled (8)
I believe the answer is:
quavered
'trembled' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are past participle verbs, I don't understand how they can define each other.
'english churchman taking turn in courtyard' is the wordplay.
'english' becomes 'E' (abbreviation).
'churchman' becomes 'rev' (abbreviation for Reverend).
'taking turn' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'courtyard' becomes 'quad' (short for quadrangle).
'e'+'rev'='erev'
'erev' written backwards gives 'vere'.
'vere' inserted into 'quad' is 'QUAVERED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for quavered that I've seen is " Trilled".)