Letter Shifting clue: Solution for 16 August cryptic crossword clue

Doomed king switching sides? True(4)

Solution – real

This is an example of a letter shifting clue.

Letter shifting involves moving a letter within a word to form another word.  As per normal you have a definition for the solution, a definition for the word with the letter to be shifted and a letter shifting indicator.

Letter shifting indicators include:  from head to foot, from top to bottom – both mean swapping the first and last letters

You can have clues where more than one letter is shifted – as is the case with this clue.  Indicators might included “switching” or “swapping”.

“Doomed king” = Lear from Shakespeare’s King Lear

When you switch the sides of Lear you get “real”

And this matches the definition of the solution within the clue – true = real.