The results of a study of some of the particle properties of the day side cleft are given. A detailed comparison has been carried out of data obtained from the energetic particle detector (EPD) experiment and the soft particle spectrometer (SPS) on the Isis 2 satellite. A significant difference is found in the particle properties prenoon (1000-1200 hours MLT) and postnoon (1400-1600 hours MLT). The electron spectrum is found to be much harder and the proton intensity weaker postnoon than prenoon. It is also found both before and after noon that most of the cleft region, which typically extends about 4¿ in latitude, can be interpreted as lying on closed rather than open magnetic field lines. The results are discussed in terms of the usual model of the cleft in which magnetosheath plasma enters the magnetosphere directly on open field lines and also in terms of a model in which magnetosheath plasma diffuses across closed lines; neither model seems able to account for the prenoon observations.