Crossword Genius

Machine for turning French and English articles (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

lathe

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'machine for turning' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'french and english articles' is the wordplay.
'french and english' becomes 'l' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'articles' becomes 'a the' ('a' and 'the', indefinite and definite articles).
'l'+'athe'='LATHE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for lathe that I've seen before include "Machine tool for shaping metal or wood" , "This is turned out" , "Turner's tool" , "8 [TURNER]" , "Turning instrument" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Independent.
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