Groups of nine games of bowls entertaining North-East area (7)
I believe the answer is:
enneads
'groups of nine' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'games of bowls entertaining north-east area' is the wordplay.
'games of bowls' becomes 'ends' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'entertaining' indicates putting letters inside (inviting in, as for dinner).
'north east' becomes 'ne'.
'area' becomes 'a' (maths abbreviation).
'ne'+'a'='nea'
'ends' placed around 'nea' is 'ENNEADS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for enneads that I've seen before include "Groups appearing one over the eight" , "groups of nine" , "Eights plus coxes, perhaps" , "Sane end (anag.)" , "Groups with members one over the eight" .)