| PLOTTWISTS | Literary devices in mysteries, and what the first four letters of 17-, 26-, and 43-Across are |
| THEFIFTHELEMENT | 1997 Bruce Willis sci-fi film ... or what you'd expect to find at the end of this answer, given the last few letters of 17-, 26-, 33- and 44-Across |
| TEASEAPART | Carefully distinguish ... or a phonetic hint to the first and last letters of 17-, 26-, 48-, and 61-Across |
| IMAGES | Ideas or fancies; literary devices such as similes and metaphors; or, pictures obtained by cameras (6) |
| TROPES | Literary devices |
| LITOTES | Literary device in T.S. Eliot? (7) |
| IRONY | Dramatic ___ (literary device in which something unexpected occurs) |
| EREADERS | Literary devices |
| CREAMOFRICE | Porridge-like breakfast dish and, cryptically speaking, what the first four letters of 17-, 28-, 35- |
| BUILDINGCODE | Structural safety standards, and what the starts of 20-, 36- and 43- Across are doing? |
| GEAR | Word that's "shifted" in the first four letters of the four longest answers |
| VERMONT | State whose last four letters are the first four letters of its capital |
| ROPETRICKS | Will Rogers's vaudeville stunts (and what the first four letters of 17-, 27-, and 44-Across are doin |
| RIGG | Actress who played Emma Peel in The Avengers and later starred in The Mrs Bradley Mysteries and Game of Thrones (4) |
| APEXPREDATOR | Animal that isn't preyed upon, and a hint to the first four letters of 4-, 9- and 21- |
| GEARSHIFT | What the puzzle's title refers to, or, how the first four letters of each starred entry might be described |
| PARTOWNER | One with "a piece of the pie," perhaps (In this clue's answer, note the first four letters and the last three) |
| TOPS | First-rate (using the first four letters of the starred entries) |
| KRIS | Songwriter-actor whose first name is also the first four letters of his last name |
| SKIM | The first four letters of a shrub genus move quickly and lightly over a surface! (4) |
