Can utility shorten old king? (6)
I believe the answer is:
canute
'king?' is the definition.
(King Canute, 11th-century king)
'can utility shorten old' is the wordplay.
'utility' becomes 'ut' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'shorten' means to remove the last letter (I've seen 'shortened' mean this).
'old' becomes 'ex' (prefix meaning former or onetime).
'ex' with its last letter removed is 'e'.
'can'+'ut'+'e'='CANUTE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for canute that I've seen before include "Pre-Norman king of England & Denmark" , "The king who thought he could hold back the tide" , ""Back," he said" , "Old king of England who ordered the tide to go out" , "English king who ordered waves to retreat" .)