Possible Clues:

• North dealt -- a problem for one's side
• Point on an infamous crown
• Runic letter for 'th'
• Androcles pulled one from a lion's foot
• Pointed extension of leaf
• Androcles's extraction
• Briar part
• It's sharp and ripped a little hole in it
• Old character still -- in reduced capacity -- serving seafarers
• The point of this is that, topless, it still has a point