Crossword Genius

Do nothing for nation protecting a good name (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

stagnate

'do nothing' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'nation protecting a good name' is the wordplay.
'nation' becomes 'state' ('state' can be a synonym of 'nation'**).
'protecting' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'good' becomes 'g' (abbreviation).
'name' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation e.g. on forms).
'a'+'g'+'n'='agn'
'state' placed around 'agn' is 'STAGNATE'.

'for' is the link.

(Other definitions for stagnate that I've seen before include "Show little activity" , "Be idle" , "Make no move" , "Get stuck" , "turn foul" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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