Crossword Genius

Scottish novelist whose beastly home visited by girlfriend (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

smollett

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'scottish novelist' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'beastly home visited by girlfriend' is the wordplay.
'beastly home' becomes 'sett' (a sett is a badger's burrow).
'visited by' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'girlfriend' becomes 'moll' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'sett' placed around 'moll' is 'SMOLLETT'.

'whose' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for smollett that I've seen before include "Tobias --, author" , "He wrote" , "Random producer" , "Tobias -- (The Adventures of Roderick Random)" , "Tobias ---, Scottish novelist" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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