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Trial marriage? (8,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

practice match

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'trial marriage?' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'trial marriage?' is the wordplay.
'trial' becomes 'practice' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'marriage?' becomes 'match' (I've seen this before).
'practice'+'match'='PRACTICE MATCH'

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I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.
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