Mansions or spots round first letter (7)
I believe the answer is:
palaces
'mansions' is the definition.
(palace is a kind of mansion)
'spots round first letter' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'first' could be 'a' (first letter of the alphabet) and 'a' is present in the answer.
'spots' could be 'places' ('place' can be a synonym of 'spot') and 'places' is found in the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'or' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for palaces that I've seen before include "kings and queens here?" , "Offical residences of sovereigns" , "Royal residences" .)