Crossword Genius

Basic covering zips up (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

lino

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'basic' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how one could define the other.

'covering zips up' is the wordplay.
'covering' becomes 'on'.
'zips' becomes 'il' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'up' is a reversal indicator (in down clue: letters go upwards).
'on'+'il'='onil'
'onil' reversed gives 'LINO'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for lino that I've seen before include "'Floor covering, in short (4)'" , "Tough floor covering" , "Floor covering (abbr)" , "put this down?" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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