Crossword Genius

Copied without women. Played the fool (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

clowned

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'played the fool' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to bodily activities as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?

'copied without women' is the wordplay.
'copied' becomes 'cloned' (cloning is a kind of copying).
'without' indicates putting letters inside ('without' can be similar in meaning to 'outside').
'women' becomes 'w' (standard abbreviation).
'cloned' placed around 'w' is 'CLOWNED'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for clowned that I've seen is " Acted the buffoon".)

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