WORD SPLICING I
Credit: GAMES Magazine
Oct/Nov, 1989
O. J. Robertson  (adapted)

Each clue below has two parts. Answer each part and combine the two words - with an over-lapping letter in between - to make a new, unrelated word. For example, given the clues Night twinkler - Marriage symbol, the answer words would be STAR and RING, which could be combined into STARING, with the letter R over-lapping between the two clue words.

1. Hot weather - adverb indicating time
2. Relax - Ripped
3. Wooden beam in a wall - Fender bender result
4. Early astronaut powdered juice drink - Lady's companion
5. College course book - Material for floor or shower
6. Lengthy narrative poem - Answer to a disease
7. Grinding facility, as for grain - MGM symbol
8. Freeway entrance - Breathe like a dog
9. Merit - comfortable refuge
10. Lamp-plug connector - Rotary phone part
11. Phone or chair on stage - Sit for a portrait

HINTS:Clues to the final answers:
1. Non-believer, to some
2. Return to original form
3. School denizen
4. Geometric function
5. Clothing
6. Food lover and expert
7. A thousand thousands
8. Widespread
9.  Sincere and diligent
10. Pleasant and polite
11. Suggest

Answers:

1. HEA(T)HEN
2. RES(T)ORE
3. STU(D)ENT
4. TAN(G)ENT
5. TEX(T)ILE
6. EPI(C)URE
7. MIL(L)ION
8. RAM(P)ANT 
9. EAR(N)EST
10. COR(D)IAL
11. PRO(P)OSE