Note: This is another in my sequence of post-Mystery-Hunt cryptics, which started with "Still There," "Post-Game Predictions," and "The Sequel"; this one was written before the 2006 hunt and refers to the 2005 hunt.

Power Lines

by Kevin Wald

In the year since the 2005 Mystery Hunt, you have been patrolling the 13 east-west streets and 13 north-south avenues of Normalville Heights (seen as the grid lines in the map below) and have used your powers on some of them. Then recently, with no warning, another meteorite shower occurred! Fortunately, as before, the meteorites have given you a new special power, which will be of great use in the 2006 Mystery Hunt.

For more details, you must fill in the Normalville Heights map. As you enter words into this grid:

Despite the above, some words will be entered normally in the grid. For each of these words, the cryptic part of the clue either omits a letter or gives an extra letter. The omitted letters, in clue order, will tell what new power you have gained; the extra letters, in clue order, will tell the appropriate line for using this power.

When you apply your new power to the meteorite sites, this will indicate another set of squares in the grid. The letters in these squares, read top to bottom, employing the powers you used on the streets, will indicate a spiffy and appropriate article of costume for you to wear; read left to right, employing the powers you used on the avenues, they will indicate what kind of conundrum you are now equipped to deal with.

ACROSS

1. Less burly, dashing one goes back to enlist again
4. Cool retro-chic club has pianos
6. Marks a Vulcan, head to foot
9. Left coral barrier around state to rot
10. Quiet ovine meets quiet ovine
11. Lady leaving ought to cover up
13. One escaping from demons in shifts
15. Amount charged, fifty shillings, is sensible
17. Smelly source of, say, gold obtained by Sweeney
18. One centimeter in height
19. Sea bird enthralls one Sesame Street character
20. Lackey almost finished skirt
22. Worries about shirts
23. Like a paradise of ice Ned reconstructed
26. Composer's attempt to get naked also
29. Be clingy when hugging North Pole resident (2 wds.)
31. Sun god indeed produces light beams
32. Anode worked for a very long time
33. Dodge cars Simon rebuilt
35. Extended note from judge upset Ms. Hari
37. Gold essentially extracted from one's mouth
39. "Pasta" written without its last letter
40. Tossed in felon's inorganic stuff
41. Outspoken non-noble perhaps stole a shoe
42. Plant fiber is, in Vienna, what a Hawaiian wears
43. Helps lunatic in drag
44. Smell left by some fabrics
45. Finds employment for hussy, stripping

DOWN

1. Put emphasis on addendum about legal matter
2. Franklin finally stops guiding philosophy of a nation
3. One-tiered seacraft from United Nations anger me
4. Safety devices protecting alien creatures before birth
5. Looked for typos in page a marsupial supplied
6. Alas, Mr. Solo goes in circles (2 wds.)
7. Cider drunk by "The Entertainer"
8. At first, Suzanne, Margaret, and Penny raced
10. Disparaging, reactionary noises from the Internet?
12. 501 eggs will be terrible
14. Exhausted by a bit of serious jail time
16. Apollo's mother's astrological sign
18. At a great distance from lover in Arkansas
21. Annoys real kings
24. Smell part of buffet, originally
25. Rabbitlike creature from hot region
26. Prayerbook from Yemen, oddly, in corridor
27. See waif disguised as a fish
28. Of two minds, finally, about nurse
29. Puts black stuff on noses
30. Loud aunt of Dorothy drinks with the girls, for example
32. Prate about being more liable
34. Okay about the Mexican jaguar or Bengal tiger
35. In speech, shows respect for Dr. Bohr
36. One number that is in a Broadway musical
38. Small creatures that are lousy pets

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