The Wicked Switch (solution)

by Patrick Blindauer

A crossword is presented which contains a two-row cryptogram. In addition, six of the clues don’t seem to match their answers. The mismatched clue/answer combos are:

FIX/OAF
JOCK/WART
BMWS/FRED
GLYPH/STEEL
QUARTZ/ORBACH
VEND/ERTE

These pairs give the decryption key. For instance, the first letter of the cryptogram (J) is actually a W because the J of JOCK corresponds to the W of WART. In this way, the cryptogram (which is also a pangram) can be decrypted to spell WORDAFTERSALT and BEFORETEACHER which clues the final answer, SUBSTITUTE.