Crossword Genius

In local speech, face English court (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

dialect

'in local speech' is the definition.
(language of a particular region)

'face english court' is the wordplay.
'face' becomes 'dial' (face of a clock).
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'court' becomes 'ct' (abbreviation used in road names).
'dial'+'e'+'ct'='DIALECT'

(Other definitions for dialect that I've seen before include "Local lingo" , "Local form of language" , "Local language version" , "talk from the regions" , "type of language" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.