Wordy Wednesday 34: Section Six 3

WORDY WEDNESDAY #32

SECTION SIX (answer)

It's been two weeks, so time to unveil the answer to this puzzle. If you still wish to solve it yourself, please go here for the normal version of the puzzle, or here for the easier version of the puzzle. Here's a list of people who solved it:
Adam Weaver **
Bryce Herdt **
Christian H.P. **
Giovanni Pagano *
Izak Bulten *
Jack Bross **
James McGowan **
John Bulten **
M. Sean Molley **
Mark Tilford **
Peter Abide **
Ryan Faley **
Sam Levitin **
Tim Harrod **

WORDY WEDNESDAY #33

SECTION SIX 2 (hint)

14 people have solved last week's puzzle. Haven't solved it yet? Here's an easier version. Send your solutions to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com within the next week to appear on the solvers list and be recognized for your puzzle prowess. Good luck, solvers!

WORDY WEDNESDAY #34

SECTION SIX 3
(click here for a PDF version)

This week's puzzle is a contest! The winners of this contest will each receive a signed copy of the Winter 2015 issue of Will Shortz's Wordplay, in which I had the honor of being published. This time, there will be two winners; one will be randomly selected from the first week's solvers, and the second one will be randomly selected from all the other solvers from the first two weeks combined. Thus, solving during the first week will give you two chances to win, and solving during the second week will give you one chance to win. Additionally, I'll donate $1 to Child's Play Charity (maximum $50) for every person who solves this puzzle within the next two weeks! (I've never had 50 solvers for one of these puzzles, so I don't think my chances of hitting that maximum are high, but if I do hit it, I'll let everyone know.)

This puzzle's grid has six rings and six sections. Each ring contains a series of words placed end to end, reading either clockwise or counterclockwise; all the words in a given ring will read in the same direction. Ring 1 (the outer ring) contains six answers that read clockwise; the starting spaces are numbered in the grid. Clues for the answers in the remaining rings are given in order, but their starting points and direction are for you to determine. The sections (separated by the heavy lines radiating from the center) will help you place the inner rings: in a given section, each ring segment contains all but one of the letters in the next segment outward. In other words, a section's outermost segment contains six letters; the next segment inward contains five of those six letters in some order; and so on, until only one of the original six letters remains.

Arrange the letters in the starred spaces to form the six-letter word which is the final answer.
Ring 1
1 Stab in the back
2 Esten of Whose Line Is It Anyway?
3 ____ cost (spent money that cannot be recovered)
4 Superficial, as beauty: hyph.
5 "____ Bells" (Christmas song)
6 "Take Me Out to the ____": 2 wds.

Ring 2
* Space taken up by one million characters, possibly
* Cookie ____ (General Mills cereal)
* Harsh
* It eludes an insomniac
* Spotted African wildcat

Ring 3
* Forgiveness
* Boxer Leon
* German engine inventor Rudolf
* Mean, for one

Ring 4
* Michael of the Halloween movies
* Entrails
* Many young insects

Ring 5
* One party in a 2009 acquisition. . .
* . . . and the other

Ring 6
* Site of an Old Testament miracle: 2 wds.