Crossword Genius

Take half of horse-rider's accessories to mix things up? (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

stir

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'mix things up?' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'take half of horse-rider's accessories' is the wordplay.
'take' becomes 'cast' (casting is a kind of taking).
'half of' means to take half the letters.
'horse-rider's accessories' becomes 'ir' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'cast' cut in half is 'st'.
'st'+'ir'='STIR'

'to' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for stir that I've seen before include "Move around in a liquid" , "beat" , "Budge" , "Excitement" , "What keeps those inside" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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