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Scaring off the burglars at the lunatic asylum? (7,3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

barking mad

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'scaring off the burglars' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'at the lunatic asylum?' is the wordplay.
'at' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'the lunatic' becomes 'mad' (I've seen this before).
'asylum?' becomes 'barking' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'mad' put after 'barking' is 'BARKING-MAD'.

Can you help me to learn more?

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

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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