Possible Clues:

• Takes off the top
• Decapitates
• Acts as executor - some teachers want to
• Takes off the top, and a hint to 17-, 24-, 47- and 56-Across
• Guillotines
• Covered in perspiration, he kills
• Turns scares to cares, e.g.
• That's tops
• This could never be harp for the executor, perhaps, as he acts