He could have news of a spy (5)
I believe the answer is:
agent
'spy' is the definition.
(secret agent)
'he could have news of a' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'news' could be 'gen' and 'gen' is present in the answer.
'a' is within the answer.
A single letter 't' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for agent that I've seen before include "Middleman" , "One's representative" , "He or she acts for actors" , "One does business on behalf of another" , "Substance that exerts some force or effect" .)