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1a Very old structure from the back spooks (7)
Third letter is C so ANCIENT fits but how does it parse?
CIA = spooks? Structure?

Archaic, very old. Arch, structure and the CIA, spooks, reversed (from the back)

As always, malone, you are on the ball! Thanks again.
One other that’s giving me trouble:
12d Non-English characters in conflict about very ghoulish entertainment (3-5,2) I have ?A?-??a??/??

Car-crash TV - take the E out of 'characters' and add V, very, then anagram it. It's 'ghoulish entertainment'.

Never heard of it! Thanks again malone.

Glad I could help, Anriard. Chambers defines it as 'informal, distasteful or deplorable material broadcast on television that exercises a compulsion on the viewer comparable to the ghoulish fascination or schadenfreude often experienced by witnesses of road accidents'. Phew!