Inscriptions
David Wilson
Each phrase clues a compound word (or common two-word noun). Take the first half of the first word from each pair and the second half of the second word from each pair, and they will also find a compound word (or common two-word noun). Thus:
UK torch = flashlight
CNN show = Crossfire
⇒ flashfire
soft drink released in 2002 = Vanilla Coke
solidified exhalation = dry ice
⇒ Vanilla Ice
Army hairstyle = buzz cut
playground fixture = seesaw
⇒ buzzsaw
dunk it, then drink = teabag
kids' construction = treehouse
⇒ teahouse
cataract = waterfall
page locator = bookmark
⇒ watermark
5pm headache = gridlock
hair crimper = curling iron
⇒ gridiron
often-abbreviated recorder = videocassette
final moves = endgame
⇒ video game
possible flag position = half-mast
cruel; unfeeling = coldhearted
⇒ halfhearted
rural bathroom = outhouse
to pass = overtake
⇒ outtake
rubber ducky's home = bathtub
66-168, e.g. = classroom
⇒ bathroom
Logan says there are no rules here = knife fight (reference to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid)
avant-garde? = cutting-edge
⇒ knife-edge
doctors' weakness, commonly = handwriting
covered bleachers = grandstand
⇒ handstand
War Emblem, e.g. = racehorse
to retrace one's steps = backtrack
⇒ racetrack
pedestrian location = crosswalk
intellectual of the arts = longhair
⇒ crosshair
Kentucky lawn = bluegrass
sharp of sight = eagle-eyed
⇒ blue-eyed
aural secretion = earwax
group of linked Internet sites = Web ring
⇒ earring
insect structure = anthill
carnivore = meat-eater
⇒ anteater
Next, take the two letters next to the boundary between the halves from each word just formed (that is, the last letter of the first half, and the first letter of the second half). Aligning on the word boundaries looks like this:
flasHFire vanillAIce buzZSaw teAHouse wateRMark griDIron videOGame halFHearted ouTTake batHRoom knifEEdge hanDStand racETrack crosSHair bluEEyed eaRRing anTEateryielding HAZARDOFTHEDESERT and FISHMIGHTRESTHERE, which clue "sandstorm" and "seabed" (or, equivalently, "riverbed" or "waterbed") respectively. Piecing these together as before yields the final answer, "sandbed."
Flavor text clues: "see writing around the border" (final step--border between word halves), "put things together"