Exposed area reportedly became dull and rank again (7)
I believe the answer is:
regrade
'rank again' is the definition.
('grade' can be a synonym for 'rank' so perhaps 'regrade' is OK for 'rank again')
'exposed area reportedly became dull' is the wordplay.
'exposed' means to look at the middle letters (outside letters removed).
'reportedly' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'became dull' becomes 'greyed' (I've seen this before).
The middle letters of 'area' are 're'.
'greyed' is a homophone of 'grade'.
're'+'grade'='REGRADE'
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for regrade that I've seen before include "Rank again" , "Alter rating" , "Give new status" .)