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Last week my local newspaper featured a crossword puzzle.
Two things were strange about it: it was placed on the sports pages and the clues were numbered in a very peculiar way, with what looks like a country code added to each clue.
I think I was able to solve all clues, but I still couldn't find the final answer…

Below is a copy of the crossword, maybe you can give it a shot.
I might add that -57 is a bit of a mean one, because the words it clues don't exist, but I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out.

Crossword

Across

-89^ (NED): Public transport vehicles gone crazy (3,5)
-85* (USA): Chose everyone (6,3)
-49* (FRA): Femur or fibula (3,4)
-45^ (GER): Scream Artist (5)
-41^ (CAN): Not a warning (2,5)
-41* (AUT): Stone for a sister (3,5)
-85^ (USA): The deficit of a bird of prey (5,4)
-25* (FRA): Trustworthy television (8,2)
-65* (NOR): Informal British toilet (3)

Down

-1^ (BRA): E in Roadie, H in Hairdo, N in Ordain or T in Adroit (5,6)
-25^^ (ESP): No trucks and buses are allowed on this road (3,4)
-113^ (USA): American home ground (2,4)
-7** (CAN): A small bay for a small truck (3,4)
-57** (USA): Devoweled dale of Latin waters (5,4)
-5^ (GBR): Missing in country for men (2,3)
-105^ (SWE): Leave some open (4,4)
-29^ (KOR): Don Cornelius created a train for it (4)

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  • $\begingroup$ Are you sure, all of them are Cryptic clues? Some of them definitely are, but I am not sure, all of them are. $\endgroup$
    – Sid
    Commented Jan 19, 2017 at 16:28
  • $\begingroup$ I've removed the [cryptic-crosswords] tag: none of these are cryptics. $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi ♦
    Commented Jan 19, 2017 at 20:33
  • $\begingroup$ Yeah, not the right tag, sorry about that, didn't mean to lead anyone in the wrong direction :) $\endgroup$
    – Levieux
    Commented Jan 20, 2017 at 7:59

1 Answer 1

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The country name is a clue to the answer because

All the answers are anagrams of a city in that country that hosted the Olympic Games, minus one or two letters (number determined by the number of symbols following the clue)

-89^ (NED): Public transport vehicles gone crazy (3,5)

MAD TRAMS ==> AMST(E)RDAM

-85* (USA): Chose everyone (6,3)

PICKED ALL ==> LAKE PL(A)CID

-49* (FRA): Femur or fibula (3,4)

LEG BONE ==> G(R)ENOBLE

-45^ (GER): Scream Artist (5)

MUNCH ==> MUN(I)CH

-41^ (CAN): Not a warning (2,5)

NO ALERT ==> (M)ONTREAL

-41* (AUT): Stone for a sister (3,5)

NUN BRICK ==> INN(S)BRUCK

-85^ (USA): The deficit of a bird of prey (5,4)

EAGLE LOSS ==> LOS A(N)GELES

-25* (FRA): Trustworthy television (8,2)

RELIABLE TV ==> A(L)BERTVILLE

-65* (NOR): Informal British toilet (3)

LOO ==> O(S)LO

Down

-1^ (BRA): E in Roadie, H in Hairdo, N in Ordain or T in Adroit (5,6)

RADIO JOINER ==> RIO D(E) JANEIRO (Thanks to @MichaelSeifert & @MOehm)

-25^^ (ESP): No trucks and buses are allowed on this road (3,4)

CAR LANE ==> (B)ARCEL(O)NA

-113^ (USA): American home ground (2,4)

US SOIL ==> S(T) LOUIS

-7** (CAN): A small bay for a small truck (3,4)

VAN COVE ==> VANCO(U)VE(R)

-57** (USA): Devoweled dale of Latin waters (5,4)

AQUAS VLLY ==> SQUA(W) VALL(E)Y (Thanks to @IanMacDonald)

-5^ (GBR): Missing in country for men (2,3)

NO OLD ==> LONDO(N) (Thanks to @MOehm)

-105^ (SWE): Leave some open (4,4)

LOCK MOST ==> STOCK(H)OLM

-29^ (KOR): Don Cornelius created a train for it (4)

SOUL ==> S(E)OUL

Using the clue "Order what's missing chronologically", we

order the clues based on the year of the Olympics in that city and list the missing letters in that order. (Thanks @MOehm for the missing piece to clear ambiguities!) This gives: THE ANSWER IS MELBOURNE

This gives the final answer as:

-61 (AUS) because the Melbourne, Australia games were in 1956, 61 years ago.

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  • $\begingroup$ AQUAE _L__ => SQUAW VALLEY $\endgroup$
    – Ian MacDonald
    Commented Jan 19, 2017 at 17:41
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    $\begingroup$ The answer to -1^ is "ADROI JOINER" (since by "joining" each given letter to the letters ADROI, you get an anagram of the given word.) $\endgroup$
    – Michael Seifert
    Commented Jan 19, 2017 at 17:56
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    $\begingroup$ -1^ is Radio Joiner (Rio de janeiro + E). $\endgroup$
    – M Oehm
    Commented Jan 19, 2017 at 17:57
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    $\begingroup$ And 5^ is NO OLD, because it's missing in "No Country for Old Men". That fits the crosser and makes the missing letter an N instead of an L. It also makes the last word of the solution Melbourne. $\endgroup$
    – M Oehm
    Commented Jan 19, 2017 at 18:15
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    $\begingroup$ And you've picked the K from Lake Placid, although that's in the answer for -85*. The extra letter here is A, and that makes the first part of the solution "The answer is ...". The order of the Games is clear, even if a city has hosted them twice: The -5, for example, means five year ago and refer to London 2012. An asterisk (snowflake) marks Winter Games, the caret Summer Games. $\endgroup$
    – M Oehm
    Commented Jan 19, 2017 at 18:20

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