Uncovered studies set up involving family relations (7)
I believe the answer is:
skinned
'uncovered' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'studies set up involving family relations' is the wordplay.
'studies' becomes 'dens' (I've seen this in other clues).
'set up' says the letters should be written backwards (in a down clue, letters go up).
'involving' is an insertion indicator.
'family relations' becomes 'kin' (I've seen this in another clue).
'dens' in reverse letter order is 'sned'.
'sned' going around 'kin' is 'SKINNED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for skinned that I've seen before include "Fleeced" , "Took pelt from (an animal)" , "Removed pelt" , "Flayed" , "Removed the outer covering" .)