Pieces of ephemera heaped around old ladies' rooms (5)
I believe the answer is:
harem
'old ladies' rooms' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I don't see?
'pieces of ephemera heaped around' is the wordplay.
'pieces of' indicates a hidden word (I've seen 'piece' mean this).
'around' says the letters should be written backwards.
'merah' can be found hidden inside 'ephemera heaped'.
'merah' written backwards gives 'HAREM'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for harem that I've seen before include "Separate women's quarters" , "Set of wives" , "Living quarters of wives in a Muslim household" , "Concubines living together" , "Collection of wives, concubines and female servants" .)