9
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Twenty-six cryptic clues -- each one a letter.

Plug the letters into the cipher to get a final cryptic and a quiz question. Answer the question, and you've cracked the puzzle!


Clues:

  1. Give money to get a clock back (5)
  2. A stretch of frenzy got everyone a big cell (6)
  3. Unseen as night, some turn crazy (6)
  4. A bouncer for an important event? (4)
  5. Merely water -- cold hard law (7)
  6. Not even I thanked you initially for curiosity (6)
  7. A phone application was mobile and endorsed (8)
  8. Sounds austere, is mistaken (9)
  9. A timeless rhymer! (3)
  10. Dog with a little time to get home (6)
  11. Being right is really about it (6)
  12. God of Romance is used to chaos? (4)
  13. The very bottom of a swirling drain (5)
  14. Chicken to scream a cry of pain (6)
  15. Kowtowing a bit leads to success (3)
  16. Pounding, stormy night surrounds it (7)
  17. A virus locker is oddly lucky (6)
  18. See, then briefly smell an outdoor room (6)
  19. Rattle the case for bolts (6)
  20. Phony lunar madness around the start of eclipse (6)
  21. Something is about nothing without me helping (8)
  22. A bent knee is always willing (4)
  23. Scattered clues about the protagonist are quite lewd (9)
  24. A woman either way (5)
  25. An ideal doughnut sounds like bull (5)
  26. Well-known noble to return no cross (5)


Cryptic cryptic:

4-8-8-25-16-6-11-8-13-'-21 17-3-17-25-16 17-6-23-23-6-15-8-12 25-16-8 10-6-24-9-6-21-3-25-3-6-13 6-17 25-16-8 17-3-1-21-25 17-6-20-1. 17-1-6-24 25-3-13-13-3-25-20-21 10-7-24-8 23-20-12-15-3-18-'-21 23-7-21-25. (5)

19-20-3-2: 5-20-21-25 7-12-12 25-16-3-21 7-13-21-15-8-1 25-6 7-13-21-15-8-1 26 25-6 18-8-25 25-16-8 9-23-7-10-8. 6-17 15-16-7-25 21-6-13-18 12-6 3 21-9-8-7-22?

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2 Answers 2

6
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Answer is:

Europe

After all from @GarethMcCaughan

xenon (number 54) + ninth (9) = 63

Convert that back to the table:

(periodic table 63): Europium, thus Europe!

Last bit: (great thanks to @jafe):

Ode to Joy, a part of Beethoven's final symphony and anthem of the EU

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  • $\begingroup$ Yup! You're basically there, but I was technically asking for the song that connects the place you found and the cryptic cryptic. A quick google search would probably do it $\endgroup$ Feb 12, 2019 at 19:28
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Could be rot13(Bqr gb Wbl, n cneg bs Orrgubira'f svany flzcubal naq nagurz bs gur RH)? $\endgroup$
    – Jafe
    Feb 13, 2019 at 12:11
  • $\begingroup$ @jafe you've got it $\endgroup$ Feb 13, 2019 at 19:49
8
+50
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Partial answer (missing, I think, just the last step; actually I do have a proposal for the last step but I think it's probably wrong):

First, solve the clues (note: actually this is best done in tandem with solving the rest of the puzzle).

 1  Give money to get a clock back (5)                       REMIT
 2  A stretch of frenzy got everyone a big cell (6)          ZYGOTE
 3  Unseen as night, some turn crazy (6)                     INSANE
 4  A bouncer for an important event? (4)                    BALL
 5  Merely water -- cold hard law (7)                        JUSTICE
 6  Not even I thanked you initially for curiosity (6)       ODDITY
 7  A phone application was mobile and endorsed (8)          APPROVED
 8  Sounds austere, is mistaken (9)                          ESTUARIES
 9  A timeless rhymer! (3)                                   POE
10  Dog with a little time to get home (6)                   CURFEW
11  Being right is really about it (6)                       VERITY
12  God of Romance is used to chaos? (4)                     DEUS
13  The very bottom of a swirling drain (5)                  NADIR
14  Chicken to scream a cry of pain (6)                      YELLOW
15  Kowtowing a bit leads to success (3)                     WIN
16  Pounding, stormy night surrounds it (7)                  HITTING
17  A virus locker is oddly lucky (6)                        FLUKEY
18  See, then briefly smell an outdoor room (6)              GAZEBO
19  Rattle the case for bolts (6)                            QUIVER
20  Phony lunar madness around the start of eclipse (6)      UNREAL
21  Something is about nothing without me helping (8)        SOOTHING
22  A bent knee is always willing (4)                        KEEN
23  Scattered clues about the protagonist are quite lewd (9) LECHEROUS
24  A woman either way (5)                                   MADAM
25  An ideal doughnut sounds like bull (5)                   TORUS
26  Well-known noble to return no cross (5)                  XENON

Then translate:

BEETHOVEN'S FIFTH FOLLOWED THE COMPOSITION OF THE FIRST FOUR. FROM TINNITUS CAME LUDWIG'S LAST. (5)
QUIZ: JUST ADD THIS ANSWER TO ANSWER X TO GET THE PLACE. OF WHAT SONG DO I SPEAK?

Then solve:

NINTH (H after anagram of TINN, and the number of Beethoven's last symphony) which we must presumably add, in some fashion, to one of {XENON,CURFEW,MADAM} to "get the place".

But there ... I am, for the moment, stuck. And I have to be AFK for a while, so I'm leaving it here; perhaps someone cleverer will come along and finish the job :-).

Perhaps the song in question is one I don't know, which would not be surprising. XEIX is, I think, the Catalan name of the letter X, but I doubt that helps. ... Well, actually there is more than one song called "X Marks the Spot", which I suppose fits everything, but that doesn't feel like it's the intended answer.

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  • $\begingroup$ All good up to the last step! Can't believe how fast you solved all 27 cryptics. Any feedback is appreciated if you have any; still learning. As for the last step, as a small hint for now, there's no word play involved $\endgroup$ Feb 2, 2019 at 4:06

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