Crossword Genius

Complete Charlie must leave sailing ship (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

utter

'complete' is the definition.
(I know that complete can be written as utter)

'charlie must leave sailing ship' is the wordplay.
'charlie' becomes 'c' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'must leave' suggests deleting specific letters.
'sailing ship' becomes 'cutter' (cutter is a kind of sailing ship).
'cutter' with 'c' taken away is 'UTTER'.

(Other definitions for utter that I've seen before include "Express audibly" , "in toto" , "Say - complete" , "Absolute - say" , "Complete; absolute" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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