Crossword Genius

Wild spirits unfortunately evident involving large male (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

devilment

'wild spirits' is the definition.

'unfortunately evident involving large male' is the wordplay.
'unfortunately' indicates an anagram.
'involving' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'large' becomes 'l'.
'male' becomes 'm' (common abbreviation).
'evident' with letters rearranged gives 'devient'.
'l'+'m'='lm'
'devient' enclosing 'lm' is 'DEVILMENT'.

(Other definitions for devilment that I've seen before include "Reckless mischief" , "Frolicsome mischief" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.