The Prickly Pear
by Todd Etter, Brent Holman, Wei-Hwa Huang, Ian Tullis. Special shoutout to Joey Bax -- dang up, Joey.
Answer: ZERO KM
Each answer can be made by letters on a computer keyboard that don't touch each other (using 6-letter hexagonal adjacency). There is exactly one additional letter that can be added to the set without touching any of the other letters in that answer.
| Director Alfonso | CUARON | G |
| It might be before the storm | THE CALM | I |
| The IRS might impose this on your house | TAX LIEN | V |
| Nepetalactone is its main ingredient | CATNIP | E |
| TRL precursor | DIAL MTV | H |
| Dooku and Chocula | COUNTS | Q |
| Firearm with… | CAPE GUN | K |
| Sam, on a breakfast box | TOUCAN | E |
| Number dedicated to receiving… | FAX LINE | Y |
| Teddy on Rectify | CLAYNE | I |
| Gowdeh-ye Yūk, officially | GADPUK | N |
| Irritable | CRANKY | P |
| He might bring you your escargot | GARCON | U |
| Who is like God? This guy | MICHAEL | T |
Those spell out the intermediate message GIVE HQ KEY INPUT. Entering this prompted the team to send someone to visit Guest Services.
The visitor played some QWOP, a near-impossible running simulator. Their challenge: to achieve a score of exactly zero metres. Afterwards, they were awarded this puzzle's final answer: ZERO KM.