No puritan, involving fellow in theft (8)
I believe the answer is:
hedonist
'no puritan' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'fellow in theft' is the wordplay.
'fellow' becomes 'don' (both can mean an academic).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'theft' becomes 'heist' (heist is a kind of theft).
'don' going within 'heist' is 'HEDONIST'.
'involving' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hedonist that I've seen before include "One who lives only for pleasure" , "For whom pleasure is the chief god" , "Seeker of sensual pleasure" , "Epicurean" , "seeker of fun" .)