Solution - Always Amusing

by Tyler Hinman

Answer: Click here to reveal

The answers to the clues are as follows:

  • NECTARINE
  • ANTACID
  • MONEY
  • ELASTIC
  • OZZY
  • FLINTSTONES
  • GREEN TEA
  • UFO
  • ECSTASY
  • SASSAFRAS
  • TRIUMPH

The title and flavortext suggest Never Not Funny, a popular podcast with comedian Jimmy Pardo. Beginning in Season 14, the free episodes are numbered, while episodes for subscribers are given letters. (Though they are behind a paywall, the information required can be found online at nevernotnotes.com or nevernotwiki.com.) In most of the latter episodes, Jimmy chooses a word beginning with that day's letter, which the others in the studio try to guess for a $5 prize.

All of the answers are words Jimmy has selected. The indices after each clue don't do anything useful, but the initial letters (i.e. the letters of the words' episodes) spell NAME OF GUEST. Therefore, we instead use the indices on the name of the appropriate episode's guest:

WordEpisodeGuestIndexLetter
NECTARINE17NRachel QUAINTANCE3A
ANTACID17ACathy LADMAN6N
MONEY14MApril RICHARDSON8S
ELASTIC15EBrooks WHEELAN1W
OZZY14ORich SOMMER5E
FLINTSTONES15FJordan BRADY2R
GREENTEA14GLaura HOUSE3U
UFO15UPat FRANCIS7S
ECSTASY16EKulap VILAYSACK4A
SASSAFRAS14SKaren KILGARIFF4G
TRIUMPH16TGreg BEHRENDT2E

Therefore, the answer to the puzzle is USAGE.