Reliable-sounding Scottish city (8)
I believe the answer is:
stirling
'scottish city' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'reliable-sounding' is the wordplay.
'reliable' becomes 'sterling'.
'sounding' shows a homophone (sound like).
'sterling' is a homophone of 'STIRLING'.
(Other definitions for stirling that I've seen before include "university in Scotland" , "City on the River Forth, "Gateway to the Highlands"" , "City of central Scotland, "Gateway to the Highlands"" , "Scots royal burgh" , "Scottish city" .)