Residence containing old carpenter’s work (9)

I believe the answer is:

dowelling

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'carpenter's work' is the definition.
(carpenters secure things with dowels)

'residence containing old' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'old' could be 'o' (abbreviation) and 'o' is located in the answer.
'residence' could be 'dwelling' (I've seen this before) and 'dwelling' is found in the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

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I've seen this clue in The Times.

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