Veiled woman stripped off to be free (3)
I believe the answer is:
rid
'be free' is the definition.
(to be free of something is to be rid of it)
'veiled woman stripped off' is the wordplay.
'veiled' becomes 'ri' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'woman' becomes 'Adi'.
'stripped off' indicates the central letters (the outer letters are stripped off).
The central letter of 'adi' is 'd'.
'ri'+'d'='RID'
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rid that I've seen before include "Lose, shake off" , "Throw off, unburden" , "Free (someone of something unwanted)" , "Free, deliver, clear" , "Disabuse" .)