Solution to Question Mark

by Aaron Dinkin

The answer to each clue is a word or phrase whose letters contain, not necessarily in order or in a block, some set of 5 or more consecutive letters from the alphabet, wrapping around from Z to A. (For example, KING JOHN contains GHIJK, and ZAXBY'S contains XYZAB.)

The clues are arranged so that the alphabetic substrings consecutive answers contain are themselves consecutive: for instance, the clue whose answer contains ABCDEF is followed by one containing GHIJKLMN. In this way the whole answer set wraps around the alphabet seven times. There are six exceptions to this pattern, however, where one letter is skipped between consecutive clue answers (e.g., the answer containing MNOPQ is followed by the answer containing STUVW, with no R present). These omitted letters spell the puzzle answer, OYSTER.

The clue answers and their alphabetic sequences are listed below, showing the omitted letters:

FEEDBACK		ABCDEF
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR	GHIJKLMN
			O
QUIPSTER		PQRSTU
XAVRAS WYZRYN		VWXYZA
CORNED BEEF		BCDEF
KING JOHN		GHIJK
QUARTIC POLYNOMIAL	LMNOPQR
VAUX'S SWIFT		STUVWX
			Y
NEBUCHADNEZZAR		ZABCDE
HALF-JOKING		FGHIJKL
PROM QUEEN		MNOPQR
			S
EXECUTIVE POWER		TUVWX
CRAZY ABOUT		YZABC
EIGHTFOLD		DEFGHI
JACK KLUGMAN		JKLMN
PASQUE FLOWER		OPQRS
			T
HUDSON RIVER EXPRESSWAY	UVWXY
ZODIAC BOAT		ZABCD
			E
KING OF JUDAH		FGHIJK
GOLF EQUIPMENT		LMNOPQ
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW	RSTUVWX
LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO	YZABCD
FLIGHT JACKET		EFGHIJKL
QUANTUM COMPUTING	MNOPQ
			R
WAVE FUNCTIONS		STUVW
ZAXBY'S			XYZAB
CHIEF JUDGE		CDEFGHIJ
KLEPTOMANIA		KLMNOP
EVERQUEST		QRSTUV
WAXY MAIZE		WXYZA