Crossword Genius

King beheaded mischief-maker in citadel (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

kremlin

'citadel' is the definition.
(I know that kremlin is a type of citadel)

'king beheaded mischief-maker' is the wordplay.
'king' becomes 'K' (abbreviation for king in chess).
'beheaded' means to remove the first letter (the head of the word is removed).
'mischief-maker' becomes 'gremlin' (magical creature).
'gremlin' with its first letter taken off is 'remlin'.
'k'+'remlin'='KREMLIN'

'in' is the link.

(Other definitions for kremlin that I've seen before include "Moscow citadel" , "Citadel of a Russian town" , "Moscow landmark" , "Seat of Russian government" , "Castle" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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