Poles employed by builder, a couple of fellows to put in carpeting (11)
I believe the answer is:
scaffolding
'carpeting' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'poles employed by builder a couple of fellows to put in' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'a' is present in the answer.
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is found within the answer.
'fellows' could be 'ff' (an abbreviation for fellow written twice) and 'ff' is found within the answer.
'in' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for scaffolding that I've seen before include "Temporary structure for builders, painters etc" , "Metal framework used when 4 down" , "Arrangement of piping" , "Platform for builders" , "Temporary structure for building workers" .)