Perforated vessel used by colonel and old queen (8)
I believe the answer is:
colander
'perforated vessel' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'by colonel and old queen' is the wordplay.
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'colonel' becomes 'col'.
'old queen' becomes 'ER' (Elizabeth Regina, ie Queen Elizabeth).
'col' next to 'and' is 'coland'.
'coland'+'er'='COLANDER'
'used' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for colander that I've seen before include "Leaky vessel" , "Kitchen item" , "Container for straining water from food" , "Culinary strainer" , "Kitchen strainer" .)