One of the old people, this writer, requiring editor’s intervention (4)
I believe the answer is:
mede
'one of the old people' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'writer requiring editor's intervention' is the wordplay.
'writer' becomes 'me' (the person who wrote the clues).
'requiring' says to put letters next to each other.
'editor's intervention' becomes 'de' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'me'+'de'='MEDE'
'this' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mede that I've seen before include "Lawmaker" , "who proverbially laid down the law" , "Ancient native of Persia" , "Ancient Persian inhabitant" , "One of the old folk" .)