By Leland Aldridge
Answer: EVOLUTION

The four answers that comprise this meta are:

  • FEDERAL RESOURCES
  • GERI HALLIWELL
  • INLAID EMBLEM
  • PAIRWISE EXPANSION

The puzzle answers that feed into this metapuzzle have lengths of 12, 13, 16, and 17 letters. These lengths are all represented in the numbers of squares per row in the pyramid. If the answers are slotted into the pyramid base in the appropriate-length rows, we get:

Within these two pairs of rows, some additional words can be found in the continuous paths between adjacent bricks. For instance, EXE is in the center-bottom, which answers the clue “English flower” from the list below the pyramid. Words corresponding to five of the clues can be found within the puzzle answers. The shapes and paths of these words match up with some of the tiles at the bottom of the puzzle, so we can slot these in.

The rest of the tiles can be used to completely fill the pyramid, and the missing letters can be deduced such that all of the answers to the clues are represented. For instance, most of REWIRE is present in the lower left, and the shape of the six-piece tile tells us where the final E must be placed. The full clue list is:

Clue Answer
Grudge BEEF
Puffed BLEW
Dutch farmer BOER
Practice DRILL
Dash length EM
English flower EXE
Unfaithful FALSE
Mound HILL
Sick ILL
Charged particles IONS
Wrath IRE
Records LOGS
Chow follower MEIN
Things NOUNS
Compensated PAID
Bottle PHIAL
Begged PLED
Connect up again REWIRE
Denomination SECT
Health club SPA
Gossip TEA
Shorter dog breed WEIM

The completed pyramid, with all the tiles placed and rows of text filled in, then looks like:

The two new rows of text read “some people will be left behind, it’s”, which is the beginning of a line of dialog from Deus Ex: Human Revolution (as searchable on, e.g., WikiQuotes). The conclusion of the quotation, EVOLUTION, is the answer to this puzzle.