### Clue: Straight men taken in by much of vivid and showy speech (8)
### Answer: RHETORIC 
 ### Explanation: Definition: showy speech
  [HET(short for heterosexual,straight in sexual preference) + OR(abbrev. for "other ranks",all men who do not hold a commissioned rank, in the military)] **contained in**(taken in by) RIC(most letters,much of "rich",vivid, eg. the colours of a painting).