Crossword Genius

Children holding minister upside down, separated (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

severed

'separated' is the definition.
(severing is a kind of separating)

'children holding minister upside down' is the wordplay.
'children' becomes 'seed' (I've seen this before).
'holding' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'minister' becomes 'rev' (short for reverend).
'upside down' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'rev' in reverse letter order is 'ver'.
'seed' enclosing 'ver' is 'SEVERED'.

(Other definitions for severed that I've seen before include "Deserve (anag.)" , "parted" , "Bisected" , "Detached" , "Split" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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