Crossword Genius

Familiar with African country occupying religious settlement (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

conversant

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'familiar with' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'african country occupying religious settlement' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'african country' could be 'sa' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'sa' is found in 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 conversant that I've seen before include "Acquainted" , "Au fait (with)" , "Familiar" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app