The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 letter word CANUTE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
C
A
N
U
T
E
More clues leading to the result CANUTE
- A knight interrupts shrewd old king
- Vessel and vehicle needed by old king
- King, but uncrowned, getting stick about that
- Lunatic overcome by boundless ocean, misrepresented?
- Repulsive ruler gets stick, welcoming useless Tory leaders
- Subject of legendary royal waves
- King upset aunt in church
- A knight entertained by clever king
- Clever, protecting an old monarch who got wet
- Shrewd to include an early king of England
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "King" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case king = canute.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.