13 across
What
the
uncaring
owl
doesn’t
give?
(4)
What the uncaring owl doesn’t give? (4)
hints
0
checks
0
hints
The whole clue is the definition (& lit or double definition).
How the clue works
The whole clue works as a cryptic definition — What the uncaring owl doesn't give? plays on two things at once: someone who doesn't care "doesn't give a hoot," and of course an owl is exactly the creature you'd expect to be hooting. A lovely bit of misdirection that makes the surface read as a nature question while quietly pointing at the idiom.