Old King Cole's head removed from dock by that woman (5)

I believe the answer is:

uther

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

'old king cole's head removed from dock by that woman' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'head removed from dock by that woman' is the wordplay.
'head removed from' means to remove the first letter.
'dock' becomes 'cut'.
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'that woman' becomes 'her' (her refers to a woman).
'cut' with its first letter removed is 'ut'.
'ut'+'her'='UTHER'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for uther that I've seen is " ----- Pendragon, father of King Arthur".)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.

Connecting...