  We report on NuSTAR and Swift observations of a soft state of the neutron
star low-mass X-ray binary GS 1826-24, commonly known as the "clocked" burster.
The transition to the soft state was recorded in 2014 June through an increase
of the 2-20 keV source intensity measured by MAXI, simultaneous with a decrease
of the 15-50 keV intensity measured by Swift/BAT. The episode lasted
approximately two months, after which the source returned to its usual hard
state. We analyze the broad-band spectrum measured by Swift/XRT and NuSTAR, and
estimate the accretion rate during the soft episode to be about 13% of
Eddington, within the range of previous observations. However, the best fit
spectral model, adopting the double Comptonization used previously, exhibits
significantly softer components. We detect seven type-I X-ray bursts, all
significantly weaker (and with shorter rise and decay times) than observed
previously. The burst profiles and recurrence times vary significantly, ruling
out the regular bursts that are typical for this source. One burst exhibited
photospheric radius expansion, and we estimate the source distance at about
(5.7 / xi_b^1/2) kpc, where xi_b parameterizes the possible anisotropy of the
burst emission. Interpreting the soft state as a transition from an optically
thin inner flow to an optically thick flow passing through a boundary layer, as
is commonly observed in similar systems, is contradicted by the lower optical
depth measured for the double Comptonization model we find for this soft state.
The effect of a change in disk geometry on the burst behavior remains unclear.
