Crossword Genius

Legendary king given present by knight (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

known

'legendary' is the definition.
('known' can be similar in meaning to 'legendary')

'king given present by knight' is the wordplay.
'king' becomes 'k'.
'given' says to put letters next to each other.
'present' becomes 'now' (now is a kind of present**).
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'knight' becomes 'n' (chess).
'k'+'now'+'n'='KNOWN'

(Other definitions for known that I've seen before include "Widely recognized" , "Famous" , "Within one's ken" , "Experienced" , "Widely recognised" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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