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25a. A protected species, shrub is cut back by earth mother
PROTEGE

Parse?

PROTEA (a S African shrub) missing the last letter ('cut back') with ('by') GE (also Gaea, the Greek goddess of the earth).

Definition is 'a protected species'.

Nice one Spoffy:-)

PROTEGE means 'protected species'?

To roughly the same extent that Egypt is a 'realm', the subject of a separate ongoing discussion. I think the setter has stretched the definition a little too far in the interests of the surface reading: 'A protected sort...' would have been better IMO, and 'One protected species of shrub...' better still (def='One protected').

Additionally, 'protégé' and 'protected' share the same Latin root, breaking one of the unwritten rules of clueing.

Thanks spoffy, understood.