Crossword Genius

King holding a pen not long ago (4,4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

last year

'not long ago' is the definition.
(only a year ago)

'king holding a pen' is the wordplay.
'king' becomes 'lear' (King Lear).
'holding' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'pen' becomes 'sty' (both can mean an animal enclosure).
'a'+'sty'='asty'
'lear' placed around 'asty' is 'LAST YEAR'.

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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