Crossword Genius

A man with common sense holds one to be shocking (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

heinous

'be shocking' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'a man with common sense holds one' is the wordplay.
'a man' becomes 'he' (**).
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'common sense' becomes 'nous' (nous is a kind of common sense).
'holds' is an insertion indicator.
'one' becomes 'i' (Roman numeral).
'he'+'nous'='henous'
'henous' enclosing 'i' is 'HEINOUS'.

'to' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for heinous that I've seen before include "Awful" , "Utterly odious (crime)" , "Shockingly wicked" , "Wicked (offence)" , "Hateful" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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