Crossword Genius

He abandons the funny, cut-throat tradesman (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

todd

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'cut-throat tradesman' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'he abandons the funny' is the wordplay.
'abandons' is a deletion indicator.
'funny' becomes 'odd' (I've seen this before).
'the' with 'he' taken out is 't'.
't'+'odd'='TODD'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for todd that I've seen before include "Richard --, was Guy Gibson in The Dam Busters" , "19th-century demon barber of Fleet Street" , "Sweeney, Fleet Street barber" , "Demon 12 of Fleet Street" , "Irish-born British actor and soldier, Richard, d. 2009" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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