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Young mammaI I say I see on the French partitioned-off spaces (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

cubicles

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'spaces' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are plural nouns, I cannot understand how one could define the other.

'young mammai i say i see on the french partitioned-off' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'young' could be 'cub' (cub is a kind of young) and 'cub' is found within the answer.
'i' is present in the answer.
'see' could be 'c' (the word for the letter, according to Chambers) and 'c' is found in the answer.
'the french' could be 'les' ('the' in French) and 'les' is found within the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for cubicles that I've seen before include "Small divisions of large room" , "Places to change at swimming pool" .)

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