Solution to Coral Reef Meta

1. Alphabetize your answers.

COMEDY DARN EIGHT BALL ELEPHANT MICHELANGELO ROBERT E LEE ROSES SERRA ANGEL DAMN DONKEY LEONARDO SERRA SPHINX TRAGEDY TWO BALL ULYSSES S GRANT VIOLETS

2. Change the first letter of one entry to M.

COMEDY DARN EIGHT BALL ELEPHANT MICHELANGELO ROBERT E LEE MOSES SERRA ANGEL DAMN MONKEY LEONARDO SERRA SPHINX TRAGEDY TWO BALL ULYSSES S GRANT VIOLETS

3. Change a cartoon character to the NCAA school that has a sports team exactly named as the color of that character's clothing.

COMEDY DARN EIGHT BALL ELEPHANT SYRACUSE ROBERT E LEE MOSES SERRA ANGEL DAMN MONKEY WELLESLEY SERRA SPHINX TRAGEDY TWO BALL ULYSSES S GRANT VIOLETS

4. Replace the US Navy Vessel with the first and namesake of its class.

COMEDY DARN EIGHT BALL ELEPHANT SYRACUSE GEORGE WASHINGTON MOSES SERRA ANGEL DAMN MONKEY WELLESLEY SERRA SPHINX TRAGEDY TWO BALL JAMES MADISON VIOLETS

5. One entry is associated with ancient cultural sites in a Mediterranean country. Replace it with the present day name of that country.

COMEDY DARN EIGHT BALL ELEPHANT ITALY GEORGE WASHINGTON MOSES SERRA ANGEL DAMN MONKEY WELLESLEY EGYPT TRAGEDY TWO BALL JAMES MADISON VIOLETS

6. Find an entry containing a number, and another entry that's a member of an ordered list. Switch their numbers.

COMEDY DARN ONE BALL ELEPHANT ITALY MARTIN VAN BUREN MOSES SERRA ANGEL DAMN MONKEY WELLESLEY EGYPT TRAGEDY FOUR BALL JOHN ADAMS VIOLETS

7. Take the first letter of the entry prominently featured in the Book of Exodus.

M COMEDY DARN ONE BALL ELEPHANT ITALY MARTIN VAN BUREN MOSES SERRA ANGEL E DAMN MONKEY WELLESLEY EGYPT TRAGEDY FOUR BALL JOHN ADAMS VIOLETS

8. Your list contains at least one double letter. Take the last one.

A COMEDY DARN ONE BALL ELEPHANT ITALY MARTIN VAN BUREN MOSES SERRA ANGEL L DAMN MONKEY WELLESLEY EGYPT TRAGEDY FOUR BALL JOHN ADAMS VIOLETS

9. One entry is a colored solid. Replace it with that color.

COMEDY DARN YELLOW ELEPHANT ITALY MARTIN VAN BUREN MOSES SERRA ANGEL DAMN MONKEY WELLESLEY EGYPT TRAGEDY PURPLE JOHN ADAMS VIOLETS

10. Replace the last letter of an entry to form a word that describes Catwoman. Take the new letter.

K COMEDY DARK YELLOW ELEPHANT ITALY MARTIN VAN BUREN MOSES SERRA ANGEL E DAME MONKEY WELLESLEY EGYPT TRAGEDY PURPLE JOHN ADAMS VIOLETS

11. Replace a country with the longest river running through it. Then switch that entry and the entry that directly precedes it.

COMEDY DARK YELLOW PO ELEPHANT MARTIN VAN BUREN MOSES SERRA ANGEL DAME MONKEY NILE WELLESLEY TRAGEDY PURPLE JOHN ADAMS VIOLETS

12. Replace the entry with the lowest scrabble score with its alphabetically first scrabble legal anagram.

COMEDY DARK YELLOW OP ELEPHANT MARTIN VAN BUREN MOSES SERRA ANGEL DAME MONKEY LIEN WELLESLEY TRAGEDY PURPLE JOHN ADAMS VIOLETS

13. Insert one string of letters into the middle of an entry to make a country. Take the first letter of the string you inserted.

E COMEDY DENMARK YELLOW OP ELEPHANT MARTIN VAN BUREN MOSES SERRA ANGEL C DAME MONKEY LIECHTENSTEIN WELLESLEY TRAGEDY PURPLE JOHN ADAMS VIOLETS

14. Replace the fifth entry with the longest substring that is a common word.

COMEDY DENMARK YELLOW OP ANT MARTIN VAN BUREN MOSES SERRA ANGEL DAME MONKEY LIECHTENSTEIN WELLESLEY RAGED PURPLE JOHN ADAMS VIOLETS

15. One entry could have a word added to form the title of a popular rock movie. Replace it with the first name of the lead vocalist of the title song.

COMEDY DENMARK RINGO OP ANT MARTIN VAN BUREN MOSES SERRA ANGEL DAME MONKEY LIECHTENSTEIN WELLESLEY RAGED PRINCE JOHN ADAMS VIOLETS

("Yellow Submarine" / "Purple Rain")

16. Replace a one-word entry with a homophone, then take the fifth letter of the new word, wrapping if necessary.

A COMEDY DENMARK RINGO OP AUNT MARTIN VAN BUREN MOSES SERRA ANGEL T DAME MONKEY LIECHTENSTEIN WELLESLEY RAGED PRINTS JOHN ADAMS VIOLETS

17. Remove the last 1/3 of an entry to get a word found in the dictionary.

COME DENMARK RINGO OP AUNT MARTIN VAN BUREN MOSES SERRA ANGEL DAME MONK LIECHTENSTEIN WELLESLEY RAGED PRINTS JOHN ADAMS VIOLETS

18. The entry that currently is second to last alphabetically could have a bigram changed to make something musical. Replace it with a new letter followed by the 5th, 4th, and 2nd letters of that entry.

COME DENMARK YOGI OP AUNT MARTIN VAN BUREN MOSES SERRA ANGEL DAME MONK LIECHTENSTEIN WELLESLEY RAGED PRINTS JOHN ADAMS DELI

(Bongo / Violins)

19. Shift the first consonant of an entry forward ten letters.

COME DENMARK YOGI OZ AUNT MARTIN VAN BUREN MOSES SERRA ANGEL NAME MONK LIECHTENSTEIN WELLESLEY RAGED PRINTS JOHN ADAMS DELI

20. Replace a multi-part name of a person with their first name.

COME DENMARK YOGI OZ AUNT MARTIN MOSES SERRA ANGEL NAME MONK LIECHTENSTEIN WELLESLEY RAGED PRINTS JOHN DELI

21. Replace one letter of an entry and anagram to produce something Pablo Picasso does. Take the letter you replaced.

L COME DENMARK YOGI OZ AUNT MARTIN MOSES REARRANGES R NAME MONK LIECHTENSTEIN WELLESLEY RAGED PAINTS JOHN DELI

22. Replace a television show that aired new episodes this century with the network it debuted on.

COME DENMARK YOGI HBO AUNT MARTIN MOSES REARRANGES NAME USA LIECHTENSTEIN WELLESLEY RAGED PAINTS JOHN DELI

23. One entry has a consonant repeated 3 times, and its first 4 letters spell a common word. Replace it with the nth most popular male baby name in the US in 1981, where n is the length of that entry.

COME DENMARK YOGI HBO AUNT MARTIN MOSES DANIEL NAME USA LIECHTENSTEIN ROBERT RAGED PAINTS JOHN DELI

24. Replace one letter in an entry to produce a tropical national capital. Take the new letter.

L LOME DENMARK YOGI HBO AUNT MARTIN MOSES DANIEL I NAME USA LIECHTENSTEIN ROBERT RAGED PAINTS JOHN DILI

25. Shift the first two letters of an entry forward one, then replace the rest with vowels to make a word of the same length.

LOME DENMARK YOGI ICE AUNT MARTIN MOSES DANIEL OBOE USA LIECHTENSTEIN ROBERT RAGED PAINTS JOHN DILI

26. Delete an E to leave the last name of an American artist whose most famous works involve the use of balloons. Replace the entry with his or her legal first name.

LOME DENMARK YOGI ICE AUNT MARTIN LAWRENCE DANIEL OBOE USA ROY ROBERT RAGED PAINTS JOHN DILI

27. Replace one letter to turn an entry into a word you can play on a piano. Take the new letter.

A LOME DENMARK YOGI ACE AUNT MARTIN LAWRENCE DANIEL C OBOE USA ROY ROBERT CAGED PAINTS JOHN DILI

28. Replace a country with its capital city.

LOME COPENHAGEN YOGI ACE AUNT MARTIN LAWRENCE DANIEL OBOE WASHINGTON ROY ROBERT CAGED PAINTS JOHN DILI

29. The third entry in your list is a Hall of Famer. Replace it with the leading Hall of Fame vote getter in the year he made his Major League debut. Shift the first letter backward two places.

LOME COPENHAGEN DRANK ACE AUNT MARTIN LAWRENCE DANIEL OBOE WASHINGTON FERB ROBERT CAGED PAINTS JOHN DILI

30. One entry could have two letters prepended and its last letter changed, to form a Greek word that might malign a tragic hero. Take the last letter of that entry.

N LOME COPENHAGEN DRANK ACE AUNT MARTIN LAWRENCE DANIEL E OBOE WASHINGTON FERB ROBERT CAGED PAINTS JOHN DILI

(Himartia / Phobos)

31. Delete the first letter of one entry.

LOME COPENHAGEN RANK ACE AUNT MARTIN LAWRENCE DANIEL OBOE WASHINGTON FERB ROBERT AGED PAINTS JOHN DILI

32. One entry is the first name of a person that won an unshared Nobel Prize in Economics and holds a PhD from MIT. Replace it with the city that contains the school he or she received a degree from most recently, other than MIT.

LOME COPENHAGEN RANK ACE AUNT MARTIN BERKELEY DANIEL OBOE WASHINGTON FERB WATERLOO AGED PAINTS JOHN DILI

33. Replace the third entry with a new entry that associates with it in a phrase using "and".

LOME COPENHAGEN FILE ACE AUNT MARTIN BERKELEY DANIEL OBOE WASHINGTON PHINNEAS WATERLOO AGED PAINTS JOHN DILI

34. Replace or delete a letter from an entry to make the longest river you can.

LOME COPENHAGEN NILE ACE AUNT MARTIN BERKELEY DANIEL OBOE WASHINGTON PHINNEAS WATERLOO AGED PAINTS JOHN ILI

35. Find the first entry chain in your list that you haven't extracted anything from yet. Take all cardinal directions that don't appear in the word.

SW LOME COPENHAGEN NILE ACE AUNT MARTIN BERKELEY DANIEL E OBOE WASHINGTON PHINNEAS WATERLOO AGED PAINTS JOHN ILI

(Column 3 / Column 2)

36. One of your entries appears in the title of a 1968 song. Replace it with the last name of the previous person referenced in that title.

LOME COPENHAGEN NILE ACE AUNT LINCOLN BERKELEY DANIEL OBOE WASHINGTON PHINNEAS WATERLOO AGED PAINTS KING ILI

("Abraham, Martin, and John")

37. Take the second letter of the entry containing the last palindromic trigram in your list.

E LOME COPENHAGEN NILE ACE AUNT LINCOLN BERKELEY DANIEL L OBOE WASHINGTON PHINNEAS WATERLOO AGED PAINTS KING ILI

38. Replace a major military victory for the British over the French with the TLD suffix of the country in which that site is currently located.

LOME COPENHAGEN EG ACE AUNT LINCOLN BERKELEY DANIEL OBOE WASHINGTON PHINNEAS BE AGED PAINTS KING ILI

39. Replace a playing card with the last word of the last corresponding puzzle title in last year's Hunt. Take the first letter of that word.

R LOME COPENHAGEN EG RECORDING AUNT LINCOLN BERKELEY DANIEL P OBOE WASHINGTON PHINNEAS BE AGED PAINTS PAST ILI

(Refers to the 2014 MIT round)

40. Shift the middle letter of an entry, rounded left if necessary, backward four places.

LOME COPENHAGEN AG RECORDING AUNT LINCOLN BERKELEY DANIEL OBOE WASHINGTON PHINNEAS BE ACED PAINTS PAST ILI

41. Bombard one of your entries with two alpha particles. Take the chemical symbol of the result.

SB LOME COPENHAGEN SB RECORDING AUNT LINCOLN BERKELEY DANIEL O OBOE WASHINGTON PHINNEAS O ACED PAINTS PAST ILI

42. Append one of the ten most common English words to produce something found on a menu.

LO MEIN COPENHAGEN SB RECORDING AUNT LINCOLN BERKELEY DANIEL OBOE WASHINGTON PHINNEAS O ACED PAINTS PASTA ILI

43. Take the first letter of the entry whose portrait appears closest to you.

L LO MEIN COPENHAGEN SB RECORDING AUNT LINCOLN BERKELEY DANIEL W OBOE WASHINGTON PHINNEAS O ACED PAINTS PASTA ILI

(Refers to paper money)

44. Take the last letter alphabetically of the entry that currently is first alphabetically.

U LO MEIN COPENHAGEN SB RECORDING AUNT LINCOLN BERKELEY DANIEL E OBOE WASHINGTON PHINNEAS O ACED PAINTS PASTA ILI

45. It's time for dinner! An area in Boston has many restaurants serving one of your entries. Take the second letter of the far-left color on the flag of the country most associated with that area.

E LO MEIN COPENHAGEN SB RECORDING AUNT LINCOLN BERKELEY DANIEL R OBOE WASHINGTON PHINNEAS O ACED PAINTS PASTA ILI

(Chinatown / North End)