O Gather Twelve by Augeas

Puzzle explanation

Every occurrence of one of the vowels A, E, I, O or U in a checked cell clashed with another vowel and was replaced by the letter halfway between them (always possible because the vowels are in odd-numbered alphabetical positions). The title represented “The Great Vowel Shift”, being an anagram of THE GREAT VOWEL. The Great Vowel Shift is mentioned in the pronunciation section of the article “A short history of English” in the front matter of The Chambers Dictionary.

Clue explanations

Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal

No Answer Explanation
Across
1 PHILOLOGIC(A)L PHIL + O’ + LOGIC + L
9 H(A)C(E)K C in HK
11 C(A)R(I)B(E) B after (C + R)
13 SC(U)M SC + M(ild)
15 L(O)G(O)D(AE)DAL(U)S (LG + S) around LADD <
16 (U)N(I)T(E)D N + TD
17 PYEM(IA) PYE + M(alaria)
21 (AI)R R(epeat)
23 D(A)T(A) T after D(epartment)
24 (EA)CH (C + H)
25 R(IA) R(ift)
27 DRY R(O)T DRY + R + (crapulen)T
28 W(EI)RD(O) DREW < − E(xplanation)
30 D(O)DEC(A)NDR(OU)S DDE + CND + RS
34 ET(UI) ET
35 (U)N(I)Q(U)E E after (N + Q)
36 D(UO)M(O) D + M
37 S(E)LFLESSNESS ’S + L + (LESS + N) in FESS
Down
1 PHYL(A) H(ighwa)Y in PL
2 H(O)P(E) HP
3 L(O)C(A)T(E) ’T after LC
4 LOS(E) LOS
5 G(OO)DY-G(OO)DY (G’DAY − A) + (D in GY)
6 C(E)LL L in CL
7 (O)BV(IA)TE BV + TEA − A
8 L(A)SS(OE)D LS + (walru)S + (lan)D
10 COG(E)NCY COG + N + CY
12 ID(IO)L(E)CT(A)L ID + (a)L(l) (vo)C(al) (licen)T(iates) + L(ecture)
14 C(A)PER C + PER
18 M(I)GR(A)T(E) MG + RT
19 B(A)DDI(E)S S after DI after B(ir)D
20 M(U)R(A)EN(A) MEN around (fo)R(um)
22 RAT(IO) RATHER − HER
26 (EA)RC(O)N RCN
29 (A)SH(E)S H in SS
31 DH(A)L D(octor) H(as) L(ocated)
32 N(O)US NU + S
33 (A)LMS LMS
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