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Agent saying nothing, having destroyed maiden's name (6)
r?p???

I assume that agent gives rep and there's the possibility of nothing giving o, but it looks to me like it should be name=repute

About to be old or very old, but not 101 (5)
a?e?? - last letter will be fifth letter from first clue


Thanks in advance.

Hi Exigo.

About to be old or very old, but not 101 (5) .. is ANENT (an old word for 'about'). ANENT is also 'ancient' less the 'CI' (101 in roman numerals).

So, REPUTE is right, as you suspected.

REP (=agent) + UTE (='oute' sounds like 'owt' = nothing in Yorkshire etc.., less the 'o' for a maiden over in cricket).

JimC

wouldn't the UTE be a lot simpler as (M)UTE (saying nothing) without the M(aiden)

that way Independent readers who don't live up North would have a chance of solving it!!

I agree with you Big D. I think your explanation is much better.

Many thanks to both of you. The '101' was taking me more down a binary route, I hadn't spotted the Roman numerals possibility.

The Mute-m approach is also obvious with hindsight, which is usually the best camera angle.

All done. Thanks again.