M Puzzle: Making a List, Checking It Twice

by Francis Heaney

The clues can be paired up such that the answer to one, when the first phoneme is deleted, gives the answer to the other (like "affair" and "fare" or "cod" and "odd" in the puzzle introduction).

Kind of gastropodABALONEBOLOGNALunch meat option
Part of a sundialGNOMONOMENReal-life foreshadowing
Buttercup's counterpartTRIGGERRIGORThoroughness
LookAPPEARPEERBaron
Camera brandNIKONICONSymbol
It's made out of blocksIGLOOGLUEWhat you may be labeled after insulting a child
Brazen girlMINXINKSEmulates Karl Story
Oppenheimer's fieldATOMICSTOM MIXActor in old Westerns: 2 wds.
Engine noiseVROOMRHEUMCold symptom
Watergate figure: 2 wds.JOHN DEANONDINEGiraudoux play
TensionUNEASEKNEESThey're required for genuflection
Type of metamorphic rockGNEISSICEGranita ingredient
A "Colgate Comedy Hour" host: 2 wds.EDDIE CANTORDECANTERWine vessel
Mystery author: 2 wds.REX STOUTX'D OUTLike some words meant to be deleted: 2 wds.
PublishISSUESHOEComic strip bird
Fictional planetKRYPTONRIPPED ONMade fun of, slangily: 2 wds

If you then read the phonemes in the order of the clue answers from which the phonemes have been deleted, you get the clue "Antonym of generic". The antonym of "generic" is "specific"; deleting the first sound from that gives you the final answer, PACIFIC.

Training:

[Insert details of training clueing here.] In the 2002 Mystery Hunt, the property PACIFIC corresponded to the puzzle answer HAWAIIAN (see the hacking runaround answer). The trained answer is HAWAIIAN.

Archivist's note: The clueing described is a "romantic atmosphere" described in the flavor, cluing the Dating training, with answer HUNT ANSWER LAST YEAR.