Crossword Genius

Marry in church after brief separation (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

splice

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

'marry' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'church after brief separation' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'church' could be 'ce' (abbreviation for Church of England) and 'ce' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'in' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for splice that I've seen before include "Interweave strands" , "Weave (strands of rope) together" , "Knit" , "Join pieces of rope by interweaving loose ends" , "Unite (strands of rope)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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