Crossword Genius

New notices in areas of potential trouble (3,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

hot spots

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'areas of potential trouble' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'new notices' is the wordplay.
'new' becomes 'hot' (synonyms).
'notices' becomes 'spots' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'hot'+'spots'='HOT SPOTS'

'in' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for hot spots that I've seen before include "Where to expect danger" , "politically volatile areas" , "areas of potential trouble" , "Places of significant activity" , "places of potential violence" .)

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