Old sinner: there's one in every church reportedly (5)
I believe the answer is:
knave
'old sinner' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'there's one in every church reportedly' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'there's' could be 'n' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'n' is found in the answer.
'one' could be 'a' (a thing is one thing) and 'a' is found within the answer.
'reportedly' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for knave that I've seen before include "Jack (in playing cards)" , "Jack - the cad!" , "pack member?" , "Unscrupulous fellow" , "Jack (card); base fellow" .)