Solution: Sowing, Sew to Speak Answer: ILLUSION
Each crossword clue is can be solved to a word with a homophone.
| HORIZONTAL STITCHES | VERTICAL STITCHES | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audibly | ALOUD | ALLOWED | Market | BAZAAR | BIZARRE |
| Queens, e.g. | BOROUGH | BURROW | Vacation at sea | CRUISE | CREWS |
| Some soft drinks | COKES | COAX | Stir up | INCITE | INSIGHT |
| Throat-clearers | COUGHERS | COFFERS | Sky light? | METEOR | MEATIER |
| Office machine | FAX | FACTS | Atonement | PENANCE | PENNANTS |
| Actress Carrie | FISHER | FISSURE | Simplified language form | PIDGIN | PIGEON |
| Transplant carefully | GRAFT | GRAPHED | Colourful wrap | SARI | SORRY |
| Visitor | GUEST | GUESSED | Band instr. | SAX | SACKS |
| Corny bit | KERNEL | COLONEL | Kill, as a dragon | SLAY | SLEIGH |
| No vote | NAY | NEIGH | Boot material | SUEDE | SWAYED |
| Kind or pleasant | NICE | GNEISS | Hurled | THREW | THROUGH |
| Spread | PERVADE | PURVEYED | Teacher | TUTOR | TUDOR |
| Symbol of justice | SWORD | SOARED | Progress slowly | WADE | WEIGHED |
| Parcel of land | TRACT | TRACT | This | WORD | WHIRRED |
The homophones can be found in the grid, written in the indicated direction, entirely within a single row or column such that each letter in the grid contributes to at most one word.
| P | A | N | W | B | E | T | I | G | P | N | C | W | H |
| P | U | I | H | I | S | R | V | E | I | Y | E | D | T |
| E | M | S | C | Z | N | H | S | I | D | S | O | A | X |
| A | L | W | I | L | O | O | A | N | W | E | D | I | R |
| N | E | A | T | E | R | A | C | S | K | E | R | E | D |
| N | A | B | C | U | R | R | C | R | G | O | W | I | U |
| A | T | G | R | A | T | R | P | I | E | L | H | E | D |
| R | S | O | R | A | A | R | E | G | O | E | D | G | D |
| N | C | Y | R | R | O | O | E | F | F | E | F | R | S |
| T | G | E | N | R | R | U | E | H | I | I | S | S | E |
| G | I | U | E | E | S | S | K | E | N | R | E | H | D |
| F | E | A | D | E | C | G | S | E | T | G | W | E | S |
| S | F | D | I | S | Y | H | N | S | U | R | S | E | O |
| C | R | O | L | C | O | E | N | T | E | H | L | D | R |
The unused letters spell "AN INDIRECT REFERENCE". That would be an allusion, which has homophone ILLUSION.
Author’s Notes
The red thread around the outside of the grid spells READ HAIR RING, a homophone of "red herring".