1) Prepare for cooking a plant - do it with mincing? (3,3,4) T?P ?N? T?I? It's obviously TOP AND TAIL, but I don't get the "mincing" bit.
2) Completely taken by alphabetical statement of the obvious? (4,4,5) H?A? O?E? H?E?S. It's obviously HEAD OVER HEELS ("Completely"), but I don't get the rest. TIA.