Printer’s devilry
Printer’s devilry is a device used most commonly in clues for cryptic crosswords and forms. A solution word must be inserted in a sentence so as to make a new, usually more reasonable-sounding sentence. The inserted word must change at least one word, often more than one, in the original sentence. For example: Massed choirs sing old-time hymn, plus the word TARTAROUS, produces Massed choirs sTART A ROUSing old-time hymn. Punctuation and word boundaries are ignored.
PRINTER’S DEVILRY SQUARE
1 During the obedience test, my favorite bit sand, is disqualified.
2 It is painful to have that quondam sting all through the day.
3 That bird? I’d not mislead the group from the Audubon Society.
4 If you keep up your bat, or your attention will wander. (*)
5 Most machines? I have setter when oiled. (NI3)
6 The dinosaur was man’s before man appeared.
=Ils
The solution:
E A G L E S … b|eagle s|its and is …
A R R A N T … st|ar rant|ing all through …
G R A N G E … bi|g range|r did not …
L A N D O R … b|land or|atory, our …
E N G O B E … se|en go be|tter when oiled.
S T E R E O … ma|ster eo|ns before man …