Mad character in NHS triage not exactly critical (5,10)
I believe the answer is:
earth shattering
'critical' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'mad character in nhs triage not exactly' is the wordplay.
'mad character' becomes 'hatter' (Alice In Wonderland).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'not exactly' indicates an anagram.
'nhs'+'triage'='nhstriage'
'nhstriage' with letters rearranged gives 'earthsing'.
'hatter' placed into 'earthsing' is 'EARTH-SHATTERING'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for earth shattering that I've seen before include "Momentous" , "Really big" , "Extremely important" , "great importance" .)