Small chapels for the public speaker, i.e. top sermoniser (9)
I believe the answer is:
oratories
'small chapels' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are plural nouns, I don't understand how they can define each other.
'the public speaker i e top sermoniser' is the wordplay.
'the public speaker' becomes 'orator' ('orator' can be a synonym of 'public speaker').
'top' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'sermoniser' is 's'.
'orator'+'i'+'e'+'s'='ORATORIES'
'for' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for oratories that I've seen is " places of worship".)