Makes cross in church, starts off new sermon every Sunday (8)
I believe the answer is:
incenses
'makes cross' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are verbs in their -s form, I can't understand how one could define the other.
'in church starts off new sermon every sunday' is the wordplay.
'church' becomes 'CE' (abbreviation for Church of England).
'starts off' indicates taking the first letters.
The initial letters of 'new sermon every sunday' is 'nses'.
'in'+'ce'+'nses'='INCENSES'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for incenses that I've seen is " Makes angry with niceness".)