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Openly gay don pinching contrary soldier’s sweaters? (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

outerwear

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'openly gay don' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how one could define the other.

'pinching contrary soldier's sweaters?' is the wordplay.
'pinching' indicates putting letters inside.
'contrary' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'soldier' becomes 'RE' (Royal Engineer).
'sweaters?' becomes 'outwear' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
're' backwards is 'er'.
'er' inserted into 'outwear' is 'OUTERWEAR'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for outerwear that I've seen before include "top layers of clothing" , "winter clothes" , "waterproof?" , "Top clothes" , "clothes, visibly worn" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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