Reptile having a breather after climbing a rocky peak (9)
I believe the answer is:
alligator
'reptile' is the definition.
(alligator is a kind of reptile)
'a breather after climbing a rocky peak' is the wordplay.
'breather' becomes 'gill' (I've seen this in other clues).
'after' becomes 'a' (this could be a standard abbreviation which I don't know about).
'climbing' shows that the letters should be reversed in order (in a down clue, letters climb up).
'a rocky peak' becomes 'tor' (I've seen this before).
'a'+'gill'+'a'='agilla'
'agilla' reversed gives 'alliga'.
'alliga'+'tor'='ALLIGATOR'
'having' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for alligator that I've seen before include "Fierce reptile" , "Reptile like a crocodile" , "River creature" , "Cold-blooded killer, maybe" , "Reptile of crocodile family from tropical America" .)