Pairing Off: A Variety Cryptic

by Foggy Brume

Each group of clues below lead to a 9-letter, 7-letter and 5-letter answer. The 7-letter answer contains the letters in the 5-letter plus two additional letters; the same is true of the 9-letter and 7-letter answers. Enter the 9-letter answer in column A, the 7-letter answer in column B, and the 5-letter answer in column C. Enter the two letter difference in the space between the columns. If the extra letters are entered in the right order, then reading down these columns, left side first, will be a definition from Ambrose Bierce regarding half of a common pair. [answers]

1. Angry, snarling purebred eats parent's shoe
   Detective with chaste upbringing shouted
   Put together evidence without criminals even
2. Circle "communism" - it's a stigma
   March 3rd-March 15th: Amusement features
   Manages extremely bleak courts
3. Army installation surrounds university, high school's quarters
   Damages car company on the radio
   With an Italian monk, you almost see where to spent a week in hell?
4. Keyes had owned a bit of makeup
   Listen to CD Like A Strawberry
   RUBE: (shakes head) "Yes"
5. Because of vote, Udall's somewhat reconsidered (2 wds)
   Planned to be broke, if wrongheaded? (2 wds)
   Tainted dope put pair on MTV? (2 wds)
6. An article in Harper's about a small scratch
   The German is involved in decreasing activity among nomads
   What you can get for effort is older, we hear
7. In writeup, established true Shakespearean character
   Library's chief says again and again, "They understand writing"
   SOS later at sea
8. Above-average, like a (3A), has hair
   Betty and Barney's policies involving bed & breakfast
   Chaotic ruble is sadder
9. One way to deal with a burning issue: fifth rig dances around emergency
   Panic involving Egypt's main cargo
   Scam magazine using note
10. Food decay in systems department
    Something placed within inn housing revolutionary Tories
    Tea falls off chariots, resulting in unrest
11. Found a new way to express her parsed interpretation
    Quiet, having handles cut
    Remove component of cameras, electronics
12. Copyright latebreaking feature of a golf shoe
    React badly to amputated leg's blood
    Tells a story about upset commanding officer – results in a movement

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