Spot trimmed by the ears (4)
I believe the answer is:
otic
'by the ears' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'spot trimmed' is the wordplay.
'spot' becomes 'notice' (I've seen this before).
'trimmed' means to look at the middle letters (the edge letters are trimmed off).
The middle of 'notice' is 'OTIC'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for otic that I've seen before include "Listener's" , "Relating to the ear" , "organ" , "relating to area incorporating canal" , "of lugs" .)