Wordy Wednesday 186: Section Six 18

WORDY WEDNESDAY #184

CRYPTIC CROSSWORD PLUS (answer)

Here is 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:
Edderiofer He **
Jack Bross **
John Reid **
M. Sean Molley **
Bryce Herdt **
Deusovi **
Ryan Faley **

WORDY WEDNESDAY #185

PENT WORDS 37 (hint)

As of this writing, 7 people have solved this puzzle. Haven't solved it yet? Here's an easier version. Send your answers 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 #186

SECTION SIX 18

(click here for a PDF version)

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 six starred spaces to form the final answer, a 6-letter word.

Ring 1
1 Nutrient favored by bodybuilders
2 Places where food is preserved in metal containers
3 ____ pole
4 Summary
5 1987 comedy for which Elaine May won Worst Director
6 "A rolling stone gathers no ____"

Ring 2
* Palindromic cuff
* Bridge
* Provoke
* Fashionably old-fashioned
* Stress

Ring 3
* Thing on a list
* Ruse
* Certain infielder
* Part of some printers

Ring 4
* Earliest
* Divisions of Dante's Inferno, for example
* Jewish scripture

Ring 5
* Camera's output
* More frightening

Ring 6
* "I'm Eighteen" band Alice ____

COMING NEXT WEEK. . .

* What's a 10-letter word for "What Esau sold to Jacob"?
* Patron Puzzle #30, which will be delivered exclusively to Patreon supporters ($5 or more per month), is a Snake Crisscross.

Submit your answers to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com. Until next time, keep on living, and yappy solving!