Exposed state head accepting uniform study (8)
I believe the answer is:
nudeness
'exposed state' is the definition.
'nudeness' can be an answer for 'state' (nudeness is a kind of state). I'm not sure about the 'exposed' bit.
'head accepting uniform study' is the wordplay.
'head' becomes 'ness' (ness is a headland).
'accepting' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters are accepted).
'uniform' becomes 'U' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'study' becomes 'den' (term for a study or office).
'u'+'den'='uden'
'ness' enclosing 'uden' is 'NUDENESS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nudeness that I've seen before include "Being starkers" , "Having nothing on" .)