Reform accepted by both sides under American and Russian settlement (9)
I believe the answer is:
archangel
'russian settlement' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot understand how one could define the other.
'reform accepted by both sides under american' is the wordplay.
'reform' becomes 'change' (I've seen this before).
'accepted by' indicates putting letters inside.
'both sides' becomes 'rl' (I've seen this in other clues).
'under' says to put letters next to each other.
'american' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names).
'change' inserted into 'rl' is 'rchangel'.
'rchangel' after 'a' is 'ARCHANGEL'.
'and' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for archangel that I've seen before include "Russian city" , "Among others, Michael" , "celestial flier" , "The head celestial messenger" , "Raphael, say" .)