New dean lathers miserable primitives (12)
I believe the answer is:
neanderthals
'miserable primitives' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are plural nouns, I can't understand how they can define each other.
'new dean lathers' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'new' could be 'n' (abbreviation as in New Testament NT) and 'n' is found in the answer.
an anagram of 'dean' is 'eand' which is within the answer.
an anagram of 'lathers' is 'erthals' which is within the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for neanderthals that I've seen before include "Extinct humans" , "Old people" .)