Crossword Genius

Chopper's fallen on toe of Hammer film director (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

malle

'film director' is the definition.
(French film director Louis Malle)

'chopper's fallen on toe of hammer' is the wordplay.
'chopper's fallen on toe of' means to remove the last letter (the last letter or 'toe' is chopped off).
'hammer' becomes 'mallet' (mallet is a kind of hammer).
'mallet' with its last letter taken off is 'MALLE'.

(Another definition for malle that I've seen is " director".)

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