Prince initially phoned - caused accident (5)

I believe the answer is:

prang

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

'accident' is the definition.
(I know that prang is a type of crash)

'prince initially phoned' is the wordplay.
'initially' suggests taking the first letters.
'phoned' becomes 'rang' ('ring' can be a synonym of 'phone').
The first letter of 'prince' is 'p'.
'p'+'rang'='PRANG'

'caused' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. It may be part of another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for prang that I've seen before include "Minor shunt" , "Car accident, usually not too serious" , "Popularly, a motoring contretemps" , "Car collision" , "Minor accident" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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