Spoonerism clues going across and Content/Container/Hidden clues going down. Another exercise for setter and solver. Spoonerisms are playful or accidental swapping of the initial sounds or letters of two words, often resulting in humorous phrases. For example, a “foul ball” sounds like “bowel fall” when Spoonerized. They’re named after Reverend William Archibald Spooner, who was reputed to make such errors. As such, “Spooner” or “reverend” often appear in clues as Spoonerism indicators. You may also see indicators such as “starts to change”, which explicitly tell the solver that a switch of the first sounds or letters in a pair of words is in order. However, the Spoonerisms I’ve encountered are never at what I would call surface level. If the answer to our clue is “foul ball”, the clue will NOT include “bowel fall”, but instead say “guts tumble” or “intestine season” or some such phrase. These synonyms often create bizarre or nonsensical phrases. For my own part, if I can identify the definition and the Spoonerism indicator, I will work through synonyms of the fodder phrase (often sounding things out) until something clicks. I hope you have fun with this one!
Having only one or two checking letters per 8-letter answer feels overly difficult, especially in a puzzle meant to be solved by people who are new to cryptic crosswords
Thank you for solving and sharing, girlcow. Your point is well taken. I will endeavor to make the etudés more accessible. Shorter answers and more crosses are great ideas!