Letter Shifting

 
The letter shifting device moves a letter within a word, to form a new word.

Some words that can be used with this clue type:

SCORE: move S from the end of CORES to the start
ACRE: move R from the start of RACE to the 3rd position

Letter Shifting Clue Structure: The clue consists of -
1. Solution definition
2. Definition of the source word
3. Letter shifting Indicator

Example:
Times 24399: Character needs help, head to foot (4) {A}BET –> BET{A}
Solution definition: Character
Definition of the source word: help
Letter shifting indicator: head to foot, indicates moving the first letter A of ABET (help), to the end of the word.

Letter Shifting Clue Characteristics

Letter movement can be indicated in a variety of ways.

(i) by letter: the letter to be shifted is specified 
(ii) by source position: the position# from which the letter has to be moved is specified 
(iii) by target position: the position# to which the letter has to be moved is specified

The most precise clues will give you a fair idea of what to move, from/to where, to get the answer.

Usually, letter shifting happens between the first and last positions. In these cases, a combination of (ii) and (iii) is used with indicators like "from top to bottom".

It gets a little complicated when the letter is moved from/to any position within the word. In such clues, ideally the target position is indicated along with the letter or source position, but if the word is short and the rest of the clue is easy, the signal for letter movement may be less specific.

Example 1:
Times 24287: The little bears, for example, shifting ring doughnuts (4) TRI{O} –> T{O}RI
This indicates the letter to be shifted (ring = O) and does not mention exact positions, but it's still fair. Since the word is only 4 letters long and has only a single 'O', it isn't much work for the solver to figure out where to place the shifting 'O'.

Example 2:
Times 24375: Ruler in a mess having succeeded much earlier? (4) HA{S}H –> {S}HAH 
The letter to be shifted (succeeded = S) is specified, with a stronger indication of position than the previous example. We know from "much earlier" that S of HASH must be relocated a long distance to the left from its 3rd position.

The letter shifting technique may be extended to more than one letter, such as with words like {TO}KYO –> KYO{TO}. This is rarer, possibly because it is tougher for the setter to indicate, but it's certainly possible. (If you recall an example, please leave a comment about it.) In clues that shift a set of letters, the letters will have the same internal sequence in the source word and solution.

Solve These

Times 23479: Play piano at end (not beginning) of concert (4)
Guardian 24245 (Gordius): Mammals (the last shall be first), named like Washington, say (9)

Related Posts:

• Other Clue Types: Anagrams, Hidden Words, Charades, Deletions,
  Reversals, Double Definitions, Containers, Homophones, Substitutions,
  Acrostics, Letter Sequences, Letter Exchange, Cryptic Definitions, &Lit.

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