Crossword Genius

The topless ladies' man turned up with an ecclesiastical scholar (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

theologian

'ecclesiastical scholar' is the definition.
(scholar of theology)

'the topless ladies' man turned up with an' is the wordplay.
'topless' means to remove the first letter.
'ladies' man' becomes 'gigolo' (young man paid to escort a woman).
'turned up' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'gigolo' with its first letter taken off is 'igolo'.
'igolo' back-to-front is 'ologi'.
'the'+'ologi'+'an'='THEOLOGIAN'

(Other definitions for theologian that I've seen before include "Expert in religious studies" , "Doctor of Divinity" , "Religious scholar" , "Student of religion" , "divine" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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