Crossword Genius

Shakes exposed, tailless reptile (4-5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

rock-snake

'reptile' is the definition.
(rock snake is a kind of reptile)

'shakes exposed tailless' is the wordplay.
'shakes' becomes 'rocks' ('rock' can be a synonym of 'shake').
'exposed' becomes 'naked' (exposed can mean undressed).
'tailless' means to remove the last letter (the tail of the word is removed).
'naked' with its final letter taken away is 'nake'.
'rocks'+'nake'='ROCK-SNAKE'

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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