Crossword Genius

Take off and settle round pole (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

parody

'take off' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'settle round pole' is the wordplay.
'settle' becomes 'pay' (paying is a kind of settling).
'round' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'pole' becomes 'rod' ('rod' can be a synonym of 'pole').
'pay' enclosing 'rod' is 'PARODY'.

'and' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for parody that I've seen before include "Skit" , "Spoof, lampoon" , "Comic imitation of, say, well-known literary style" , "Humorous misrepresentation" , "Make a mockery" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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