The story in this puzzle includes several malapropisms (playfully clued by "Miss Heard"), each of which can be corrected by a letter transformation:
| Story | Malapropism | Correction | Transformation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mr. E stops by a bakery on his way home. | |||
| The murderer is going to get their just desserts soon enough, just as soon as Mr. E can get his own desserts. | JUST DESSERTS | JUST DESERTS | delete S |
| He eyes the cakes in the window. Sigh. | |||
| His doctor has been nagging him to cut down on sugar, so he purchases a large sandwich and cuts to the cheese. | CUTS TO THE CHEESE | CUTS TO THE CHASE | EE -> A |
| As he eats, he spreads his notes out on the table. | |||
| Time to detect. | |||
| He knows the real murderer is trying to pin the crime on Billy, who makes an easy escape goat. | ESCAPE GOAT | SCAPEGOAT | delete E |
| If only Billy had stuck around to clear his name; someone needs to find a way to make that kid tow the line. | TOW THE LINE | TOE THE LINE | W -> E |
| With the right mentorship, he could be a real goal-getter. | GOAL-GETTER | GO-GETTER | delete AL |
| Maybe this was his own fault. | |||
| Maybe he shouldn't have gotten so excited about the fingerprint evidence and scared away his only witness. | |||
| He needs to learn to curve his enthusiasm. | CURVE HIS ENTHUSIASM | CURB HIS ENTHUSIASM | VE -> B |
| He chews on his sandwich thoughtfully. | |||
| Everything would be so clear in his mind if he could only figure out how the murderer managed to flee the scene undetected. | |||
| He pores over the images from the crime scene again. | |||
| There must be something he missed—of course! | |||
| The murderer escaped in a wheelbarrel! | WHEELBARREL | WHEELBARROW | EL -> OW |
Now apply these transformations, in order, to the string given at the bottom of the puzzle:
| Current string | Transformation to apply |
|---|---|
| SEVWWELLFEELSROMETEELSHEWVWELUW | delete S |
| EVWWELLFEELROMETEELHEWVWELUW | EE -> A |
| EVWWELLFALROMETALHEWVWELUW | delete E |
| VWWLLFALROMTALHWVWLUW | W -> E |
| VEELLFALROMTALHEVELUE | delete AL |
| VEELLFROMTHEVELUE | VE -> B |
| BELLFROMTHEBLUE | EL -> OW |
| BOWLFROMTHEBLUE |
The result is BOWLFROMTHEBLUE, a malaproprism for the final answer, BOLT FROM THE BLUE.