Crossword Genius

Crazy poet, penning piece with mother (7,3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

barking mad

'crazy' is the definition.
(informal phrase)

'poet penning piece with mother' is the wordplay.
'poet' becomes 'bard' (bard is a kind of poet).
'penning' indicates putting letters inside.
'piece' becomes 'king' (king is a kind of piece).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'mother' becomes 'ma' (ma can mean mother).
'king'+'ma'='kingma'
'bard' going around 'kingma' is 'BARKING-MAD'.

(Another definition for barking mad that I've seen is " Nuts".)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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