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