The BreakdownThe Definition: "lack" (privations are states of lacking basic necessities).
The Wordplay:"Privates" tells you to use the word PRIVATES."lack right" is a deletion indicator telling you to remove the letter R (the abbreviation for "right"), leaving you with PRIVATES - R = PVATES.
"pong" provides the remaining letters. A "pong" is a bad smell, or an ODOR (4 letters)."fish" acts as the anagram indicator (meaning to "fish around" or scramble the letters).
If you take PVATES and combine it with ODOR ("pong"), you get the 10 letters: P, V, A, T, E, S, O, D, O, R. Scrambling ("fish") those letters spells PRIVATIONS.
(, Tue 7 Jul 2026, 21:31, archived)