Crossword Genius

Singer heard by blokes initially trying lowest floor (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

basement

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'lowest floor' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'singer heard by blokes initially trying' is the wordplay.
'singer' becomes 'bass' (bass is a kind of singer).
'heard' shows a homophone (sound like).
'by blokes' becomes 'men' (bloke can informally mean a man. I am not sure about the 'by' bit.).
'initially' suggests taking the first letters.
The initial letter of 'trying' is 't'.
'bass' is a homophone of 'base'.
'base'+'men'+'t'='BASEMENT'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for basement that I've seen before include "rock formation" , "Bottom floor" , "Part of house below ground" , "Underground area of building" , "space below stairs" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.
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