New king had — to be this? (7)
I believe the answer is:
crowned
'be this?' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun but the answer is not.
'new king had' is the wordplay.
'new king' becomes 'cr' (short for Carolus Rex, King Charles in Latin. I am not sure about the 'new' bit.).
'had' becomes 'owned' ('own' can be a synonym of 'have').
'cr'+'owned'='CROWNED'
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for crowned that I've seen before include "Hit on the head" , "Invested with regal power" , "Formally made monarch" , "Invested as monarch" , "Installed as monarch" .)