Crossword Genius

Victor leaves work, making time for a holiday (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

noel

'time for a holiday' is the definition.
(term for Christmas)

'victor leaves work' is the wordplay.
'victor' becomes 'v' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'leaves' suggests deleting specific letters.
'work' becomes 'novel' (type of literary work).
'novel' with 'v' taken out is 'NOEL'.

'making' is the link.

(Other definitions for noel that I've seen before include "Christmas carol" , "namely 4 [COWARD]" , "Coward for one" , "Christmas time" , "Season around the 25th December" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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