Crossword Genius

Relishes holding in a bit of smart, pert talk (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sauciness

'pert talk' is the definition.

'relishes holding in a bit of smart' is the wordplay.
'relishes' becomes 'sauces' (I've seen this before**).
'holding' indicates putting letters inside.
'a bit of' indicates taking the first letters.
The initial letter of 'smart' is 's'.
'sauces' enclosing 'in' is 'saucines'.
'saucines'+'s'='SAUCINESS'

(Other definitions for sauciness that I've seen before include "Disrespect" , "Causes sin in jaunty or impudent state" , "Impertinence, cheekiness" , "Causes sin through kind of impudence" , "Brass" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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