Crossword Genius

Singer heard by blokes initially tidying cellar (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

basement

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'cellar' is the definition.
(both can mean the space underneath a house)

'singer heard by blokes' is the wordplay.
'singer' becomes 'bass' (bass is a kind of singer).
'heard' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'by blokes' becomes 'ment' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'bass' is a homophone of 'base'.
'base'+'ment'='BASEMENT'

'initially tidying' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for basement that I've seen before include "Japanese medicine box" , "Underground room" , "Lowest floor of a building" , "Lower ground floor" , "underground construction" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.
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