County nuts get near senior NCO (5,8)

I believe the answer is:

staff sergeant

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'nco' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'county nuts get near' is the wordplay.
'county' becomes 'staffs' (Staffordshire).
'nuts' indicates an anagram (nuts can mean crazy).
'get'+'near'='getnear'
'getnear' anagrammed gives 'ergeant'.
'staffs'+'ergeant'='STAFF SERGEANT'

'senior' acts as a link.
This may not be correct. It may belong to another bit of the clue.

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(Other definitions for staff sergeant that I've seen before include "NCO rank" , "Officer" , "person of rank" , "A senior NCO" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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