Possible Clues:

• Old lady getting tied in a knot
• Mother's mother, say
• No reef for the applesmith, perhaps
• A parent's mother
• (Knotty?) relative
• Old wife's tale told of Big Apple
• Lupine disguise in the Brothers Grimm
• Female relative (who may have her own flat?)
• Leo won't stay in any longer, and that's an issue for the great-grandparents presumably?
• A relative