gremlin vs worm in the apple

gremlin

noun
  • Any mysterious, unknown source of mischief or trouble, or the problem created thereby. 

  • A young, inexperienced surfer, seen as being a nuisance. 

  • An imaginary creature reputed to be mischievously inclined to damage or dismantle machinery. 

worm in the apple

noun
  • A serious flaw in something otherwise good; a problem that ruins everything else. 

How often have the words gremlin and worm in the apple occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )