Crossword Genius

Reportedly see a Conservative without, say, class (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

category

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'class' is the definition.
(I know that class can be written as category)

'reportedly see a conservative without' is the wordplay.
'reportedly' becomes 'eg' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'see' becomes 'C' (the word for the letter, according to Chambers).
'conservative' becomes 'tory' (informal term for a Conservative Party member).
'without' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'c'+'a'+'tory'='catory'
'eg' inserted inside 'catory' is 'CATEGORY'.

'say' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for category that I've seen before include "Classification of grey-coat" , "Class of grey coat" , "Class or division of similar subjects" , "Group of classified items" , "Class with the same attribute" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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