Crossword Genius

Twist Nikolai Gogol originally employed in literary work (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

tangle

'twist' is the definition.
(tangling is a kind of twisting)

'nikolai gogol originally employed in literary work' is the wordplay.
'originally' indicates taking the first letters.
'employed in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'literary work' becomes 'tale'.
The first letters of 'nikolai gogol' is 'ng'.
'ng' going inside 'tale' is 'TANGLE'.

(Other definitions for tangle that I've seen before include "Confused mess" , "Confused knot of something" , "Twist together; seaweed" , "Enmesh, snarl up" , "Confuse" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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