Enigmatic Variations No. 1384: Handover by Samuel

Hello everyone.  Another fun puzzle from Samuel, which I found to be one of the gentler EVs that I’ve done, but with plenty of entertainment value.

The preamble reads:

In HANDOVER, all but six clues contain an additional word that must be removed before solving.  In clue order, the first letters of these additional words give two incomplete phrases, one from across clues, one from down clues.  The completed first phrase explains how eight answers need adjusting on entry, four of which are initially too short for the space available, and the other four initially too long.  The completed second phrase suggests an eight letter word, which must be highlighted.  Numbers in brackets refer to entry lengths, the final grid contains only real words, and Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.

By now I’ve become very used to clues with extra words or letters to be deleted, and felt well within my comfort zone when starting out.  The only thing to keep an eye out for was answers being the wrong length to fit the grid.  CANOE was an early answer, and CANE seemed like a plausible grid entry; on the other side of things AREA was too short, and it took longer before the surrounding entries suggested ARENA as the adjusted word.  I made a note of take O / add N, but didn’t guess very early at either of the two incomplete phrases.  Perhaps this was because I was plodding along nicely and not in a particular hurry, perhaps it was because the title HANDOVER had steered me to thinking that that O might be short for OVER.  Anyway, after a while I had enough letters from the across clues to see OUT WITH THE … IN WITH THE …, and the significance of the O and N and what to do all became clear:

Out with the Old, in with the New

Musing on old, new, I thought of “something old, something new” and it occurred to me that BORROWED is an eight letter word.  Fortunately, I didn’t waste much time chasing those idle thoughts, but just concentrated on solving more clues.  Before too long THE C___GING OF … appeared, and I also realised that THE GUARD has eight letters.  A quick check for an anagram, and DAUGHTER was there — in those letters, and in the grid.  Bingo!

The changing of THE GUARD –> DAUGHTER

From there, just a few left in the NE to sort out and all done.  Lovely.

I should add that the theme has a special significance: Samuel was until very recently the editor of this series but has now handed over the reins to the setter known in these parts as proXimal.  So I’d like to add a word of appreciation to the outgoing (not so old!) editor for the sterling job he has done, and a welcome to the new one.  I’ve become very fond of the EV, and feel confident that it’s in safe hands.  Up with this sort of thing!