The French crazy about Southern girls (7)
I believe the answer is:
damsels
'girls' is the definition.
(damsel is a kind of girl)
'the french crazy about southern' is the wordplay.
'the french' becomes 'les' (les is the in french**).
'crazy' becomes 'mad' ('mad' can be a synonym of 'crazy').
'about' is a reversal indicator.
'southern' becomes 's' (abbreviation).
'les'+'mad'='lesmad'
'lesmad' in reverse letter order is 'damsel'.
'damsel'+'s'='DAMSELS'
(Another definition for damsels that I've seen is " Young ladies, in distress perhaps".)
I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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