Crossword Genius

A maid all up over a religious leader (5,4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

dalai lama

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

'a maid all up over a' is the wordplay.
'up' is an anagram indicator (letters get chucked up).
'over' indicates putting letters inside.
'a'+'maid'+'all'='amaidall'
'amaidall' with letters rearranged gives 'dalailma'.
'dalailma' going around 'a' is 'DALAI LAMA'.

(Other definitions for dalai lama that I've seen before include "Titular Tibetan" , "World's Buddhist leader, once ruler of Tibet" , "'Spiritual leader of Tibet (5,4)'" , "Chief Tibetan priest" , "Tibetan Buddhist leader, meaning ocean monk" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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