Literary squire needs time-off period to purchase an axe (6,5)
I believe the answer is:
sancho panza
'literary squire' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'time-off period to purchase an axe' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'an' could be 'a' and 'a' is located in the answer.
'axe' could be 'chop' (chop with an axe) and 'chop' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'needs' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sancho panza that I've seen before include "Spanish squire" , "Don Quixote's squire" , "Don Quixote's servant" , "Don Quixote's companion" , "squire to a knight" .)