FLOSS
LA Times Crossword
May 1, 2016
Kathleen Faye O'Brien

What do the following words have in common?

LEASE
RITE
WRENCH
LORE
OAK
ROOT

HINTS:
#1: The title is a clue.
#2: It has to do with the sound of the clue words.

Answer: 

The sound of each word, when preceded by F and adjusted for spelling, creates a new word:

FLEECE
FRIGHT
FRENCH
FLOOR
FOLK
FRUIT 

Explanation of Hint #1: FLOSS = F-LOSS