Within series, reduce the numbers in places for messy kitchen work (10)

I believe the answer is:

sculleries

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'places for messy kitchen work' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'within series reduce the numbers' is the wordplay.
'within' is an insertion indicator.
'reduce the numbers' becomes 'cull' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'series' enclosing 'cull' is 'SCULLERIES'.

'in' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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