Crossword Genius

Terrible heartless sins nutter commits (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

entrusts

'commits' is the definition.
('entrust' can be a synonym of 'commit')

'terrible heartless sins nutter' is the wordplay.
'terrible' is an anagram indicator.
'heartless' means to remove the middle letters.
'sins' with its middle removed is 'ss'.
'ss'+'nutter'='ssnutter'
'ssnutter' is an anagram of 'ENTRUSTS'.

(Other definitions for entrusts that I've seen before include "Puts into the care or protection of" , "Gives into the care of" , "Places in a person's safe care" , "Willingly gives responsibility to" , "Commits confidently to another." .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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