Metal parts in front of stone idols (5)
I believe the answer is:
icons
'idols' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being plural nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'metal parts in front of stone' is the wordplay.
'metal' becomes 'co' (Co is an example).
'parts' is an insertion indicator (inserted letters separate or part others).
'front of' suggests taking the first letters (the letter at the front of the word).
The first letter of 'stone' is 's'.
'co' put into 'in' is 'icon'.
'icon'+'s'='ICONS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for icons that I've seen before include "Devotional paintings" , "revered art" , "Holy paintings" , "Screen symbols on 4 across" , "Sonic (anag)" .)