Went away from earthly life, reportedly ailing (8)
I believe the answer is:
deceased
'went' is the definition.
('decease' can be a synonym of 'go')
'away from earthly life reportedly ailing' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'away' could be 'a' (abbreviation as used in sports fixtures) and 'a' is present in the answer.
'from' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is present in the answer.
'reportedly' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for deceased that I've seen before include "departed" , "Defunct" , "Totally bereft of life" , "Pushing up the daisies" , "Passed away" .)