Crossword Genius

Victorian hiding small crystal (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

prism

'crystal' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'victorian hiding small' is the wordplay.
'victorian' becomes 'prim' (synonyms).
'hiding' indicates putting letters inside.
'small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'prim' going around 's' is 'PRISM'.

(Other definitions for prism that I've seen before include "Optical device used to invert an image" , "Light splitting optical device" , "Shape used to disperse light beams" , "Refracting glass" , "It breaks light up into rainbow's colours" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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