Crossword Genius

Coming out of their shell, they give the French a saucy look! (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

winkles

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'coming out of their shell' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'they give the french a saucy look' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'the french' could be 'les' (plural form of 'the' in French) and 'les' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'wink' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

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