BLACK BED

by Ken Stern

Solution: YTTRIUM

Each clue is for a word that is part of a pair (a hero and a pirate). The hero and pirate are the same, except the hero has had the letters AR removed.

If either set of words is taken in alphabetical order of the pirate clues, its acrostic spells out BLANK MY DEAR WATSON, which leads to ELEMENTARY. Performing the same transformation-removing AR-produces ELEMENT Y, which indicates the answer to the puzzle, YTTRIUM.

Clue (long word)

Answer

Letter

Clue (short word)

Answer

Ale container holding 31 gallons

barrel

B

"Ne me quitte pas" artist

Brel

Cartilage makes up most of it

larynx

L

Mercury's 1981 successor to the Bobcat

Lynx

Deliver a call to arms to

alarum

A

Many a Mystery hunt participant, vis-à-vis MIT

alum

Former Red Sox infielder Garciaparra

Nomar

N

Henri, par exemple

nom

Isak's given name

Karen

K

"Jeopardy!" champ Jennings

Ken

Leatherneck

marine

M

Underground deposit

mine

Long (for)

yearn

Y

Cash in Chiba

yen

Mark one's page in a book

dog-ear

D

Italian chief magistrate

doge

One might be a stud

earring

E

TV show starring Benjamin Bratt

E-Ring

Shaped like a hoop

annular

A

Legally void

annul

Strand of beads

rosary

R

Positive, as an outlook

rosy

Suspiciously or with caution

warily

W

Crafty, like a coyote?

wily

Turkey's second-largest city

Ankara

A

Writer of "My Way"

Anka

Type of tax

tariff

T

Tumultuous spat

tiff

Unhip, to some extent

squarish

S

Flatten, as a bug

squish

Victor Vasarely's genre

op art

O

Decide

opt

Went closer to

neared

N

Financial aid decision factor

need