Inspecting the lefthand clues, solvers are meant to identify them as cryptic clues. However, even after knowing this fact, a lot of the clues seem strange, and reuse phrases such as
complement, not, opposite, like.
Given the fact that the righthand clues all start with is, it can be reasonably assumed that these are the definition half of the clue pair. Some are straightforward, and act as a means of breaking in. The left hand side clues all use prefixes and suffixes in their cryptic wordplay. One potential break-in is outlined below
...is Mr. Sorkin clues AARON confidently, so solvers can look to the lefthand column and try to see a cryptic clue that forms it. Ron Howard directed The Da Vinci Code, and a can be a prefix meaning not, such as in the words atypical, asexual and asymmetric, so someone who is not not Ron is AARON.
The number given in parenthesis in the lefthand fragments turn out not to be enumerations of answers. This fact can also be reasonably deduced based on the frequency of 1s that appear. Indexing these numbers into the answered cryptic clue yields the cluephrase
MORE MORE MAGIC STICK. Treating this in a similar fashion as the earlier clues and answering it to an 8 letter answer as given at the bottom of the puzzle yields the final answer.
