Near ancient? That could be it (11)

I believe the answer is:

centenarian

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'it' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'near ancient? that could be' is the wordplay.
'that could be' is an anagram indicator.
'near'+'ancient'='nearancient'
'nearancient' with letters rearranged gives 'CENTENARIAN'.

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(Other definitions for centenarian that I've seen before include "Person of a great age" , "old human being" , "Person a hundred or more in age" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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