Maiden happening to lose an old shoe (8)
I believe the answer is:
moccasin
'shoe' is the definition.
(I know that moccasin is a type of shoe)
'maiden happening to lose an old' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'maiden' could be 'm' (cricket abbreviation) and 'm' is found in the answer.
'an' could be 'i' (Roman numeral for one) and 'i' is located in the answer.
'old' could be 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English) and 'o' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for moccasin that I've seen before include "Venomous American snake" , "Soft shoe - venomous American pit viper" , "going on foot?" , "Sonic mac (anag.)" , "American Indian shoe" .)