Higher up gets rebuke though completely innocent (5,8)
I believe the answer is:
above reproach
'completely innocent' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether this works.
'higher up gets rebuke' is the wordplay.
'higher up' becomes 'above' (synonyms).
'gets' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'rebuke' becomes 'reproach' (reproach is a kind of rebuke).
'above'+'reproach'='ABOVE REPROACH'
'though' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for above reproach that I've seen before include "Perfect" , "Too good for criticism" , "Blameless -- totally honest" , "Not criticisable" , "of unimpeachable quality" .)