Superfluity
A superfluity contains a superfluous word in the body of the flat; if the word is removed, the flat still makes sense. The word indicates how to change one solution word into the other solution word. The superfluous word is not enumerated.
SUPERFLUITY (8, 3)
A noise made me jump—just a slight, subtle sound.
I froze in my tracks—I could not look around.
A LONG person would have kept walking and not
Been afraid of a SHORT on the street. But a lot
Of us have an exceptional fear of this thing.
I blame horror films most, and, of course, Stephen King.
=QT-Oh
Solution: rational, rat; the superfluous word is “exceptional” in line 5. More examples: face, surface [“surplus” superfluous]; stable, able [“stout” superfluous]; and appeal, appal [“cute” superfluous]. The superfluity was invented in 2014 by Monster.