It may have an unassuming exterior, but you can’t judge a book by its cover.

All of the answers in this wordfind have been “beheaded” (had their first letter removed) by Hyle. So have all the words in the clues and all the words in the hidden secret message spelled out by the unused letters in the grid (in reading order: left to right and top to bottom). Numbers in parentheses after each clue represent the number of letters in the (beheaded) answer. Two numbers indicate a two-word answer.

To help you, at the bottom of the page, Hand has provided the spacing and punctuation for the (un-beheaded) secret message. The red blanks will contain the missing “beheaded” letters and can be skipped when transcribing letters from the grid to the blanks.

The secret message is a clue to the four-letter answer.

Ady Aga lbum n hich he ong Lice ppears (9)

And Lice N Hains as art f he runge ock ovement hat riginated n his orthwestern Merican ity (6)

Ast ame f Lice ho as ife artner o riter Ertrude Tein (5)

Ast ame f Lice nd Alph n he lassic itcom He Oneymooners (6)

Ast ame f uthor Lice ho on he Obel Rize or Iterature n 013 (4)

Boriginal ame or Lice Prings, Ustralia (7)

E sked Lice he iddle, “hy s aven ike riting-esk?” (2 5)

Erman niversity hat eveloped he Lice L rogramming anguage (7)

Hile ousekeeper Lice (layed y Nn . Avis) as n he enter quare, his aughter as n he pper-eft quare n he pening redits f He Rady Unch (5)

“Hock ocker” Lice Ooper as orn Incent Amon Urnier n his Merican ity (6)

Irst ame f Tar Rek: Oyager hip’s ngineer (layed y Oxann Awson) ho ad omantic ivalry ith pacecraft amed Lice n eason ix, pisode ive (6)

Leventh rack n Om Aits’ 002 lbum Lice (9)

Lice Alker’s ost amous ook’s itle eferences his olor (5)

“Lice” as een he ame f ine Acific yphoons, hree Ustralian egion yclones, nd our f hese omparable Tlantic torms (9)

Lice s he ame f he ain emale haracter n his Cott Dams omic trip (6)

LICE s ne f ight etection xperiments erformed t he Arge ____ Ollider n Witzerland (5)

Lse (r Lice) Oung as he irst erson o e anged or itchcraft n he hirteen Merican olonies n 647, redating he ore-amous “____ Itch Rials” y orty-ive ears (4)

N he hird-o-ast ection f hapter wenty-hree f Ho Illed Erusalem?, hat motion ills Octor Lro’s yes? (5)

Ord hat omes efore Lice n he ame f he Ritish ock and eaturing inger Llie Owsell nd uitarist Off Ddie (3)

Rank nd Lice Ongbottom re he arents f his Arry Otter lassmate (6)

Talian ity (amous or ype f ausage) rom hich “Adio Lice” as roadcast n he 970s (6)

[Note: On the puzzle PDF, the following series of blanks appears in two lines. To preserve coloration, they are shown here on multiple lines. This is not part of the puzzle.]