Quiet about key woman in period of development (9)
I believe the answer is:
pregnancy
'period of development' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both states of affairs as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'quiet about key woman' is the wordplay.
'quiet' becomes 'p' (music symbol for 'piano', ie soft or quiet).
'about key' becomes 'reg' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'woman' becomes 'Nancy' (woman's name).
'p'+'reg'+'nancy'='PREGNANCY'
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pregnancy that I've seen before include "expectation?" , "Period carrying a child" .)