Canniest boss of older people (8)

I believe the answer is:

ancients

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'older people' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'canniest boss' is the wordplay.
'canniest' can be anagrammed to 'ANCIENTS'.
However, I am unsure how this is indicated.

'of' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for ancients that I've seen is " Pistol and Iago".)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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