Crossword Genius

Criminal cases he finally came to drop? (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

hangman

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'criminal cases he finally came to drop?' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.

'criminal cases he' is the wordplay.
'criminal cases' becomes 'hang' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'he' becomes 'man'.
'hang'+'man'='HANGMAN'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for hangman that I've seen before include "He suspends" , "wordgame?" , "Official executioner" , "Word game - executioner" , "official suspending offenders" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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