Crossword Genius

Shame about the end of reverence and devoutness (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

piety

'devoutness' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'shame about the end of reverence' is the wordplay.
'shame' becomes 'pity' (synonyms).
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'the end of' says to take the final letters.
The final letter of 'reverence' is 'e'.
'pity' enclosing 'e' is 'PIETY'.

'and' is the link.

(Other definitions for piety that I've seen before include "Dutiful devotion" , "Holiness" , "paying proper duty" , "Quality of devoutness" , "Quality of being religious" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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