Oh no! Right before I published this puzzle, a crossword-hating sorcerer waved his wand and removed something crucial to the heart and soul of this (and every) crossword from some of its entries! Can you find what's missing and save this grid before it's too late? The solution to this puzzle's meta is something that was removed from each starred clue in this crossword. Fill difficulty: Medium-Challenging. Meta difficulty: Easy
Very cool! I got held up on the meta by picking the wrong letter to keep for a couple where there were two options (I removed PSEA from CHEATS rather than APSE and WERE from SKED rather than EWER). Eventually I paid closer attention to the parentheticals in the clues and that cracked it.
Thanks! I wanted to use bars to make it clear where the deletions were but that resulted in some unchecked squares I couldn't clue off of. Glad it was still gettable even in this harder form.
Crosswordese
LIST + EFT = LEFTIST
GENTRY + EAU = GENEAUTRY
CHEATS + APSE = CHEAPSEATS
SKED + EWER = SKEWERED
DRS + ONO = DONORS
FIN + ADE = FADEIN