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.