Wordplay devices

Wordplay inversions

A phrase signaling a wordplay inversion flips the sense of another wordplay indicator, typically a container – in essence turning “A contains B” into “B contains A.” Inversion indicators are phrases that suggest reverse logic, such as on the contrary and just the opposite:

Bounty for insurgent captured in battle? Quite the opposite (6)

The wordplay parts are RED (“insurgent”) and WAR (“battle”). The indicator captured in by itself would tell you to insert RED into WAR, but the indicator quite the opposite tells you instead to put WAR into RED. Doing so gives us the final answer, RE(WAR)D (“bounty”).