GC SF Sp WH BV YL BT CP SA CB CC Back to puzzle

Cascade Bay

The Swimming Hole

by Todd Etter, Brent Holman
Answer: ADOPT WET NEUTRALITY

This is the final meta for Cascade Bay and it uses the ten answers from the previous two metas and the eight new answers.

The flavor text of bitter and sour, along with "water quality" suggests pH. In each answer, one of the two words can be paired with either ACID or BASE to make a common phrase (e.g. STOLEN BASE, BATTERY ACID, etc.) Looking at the other words, we can pair the answers by their non-acid/base lengths:

Looking at the paired words of equal length, one of the two words contains a single P and H. Taking the corresponding letters in the other word (ordered by length), gives the answer ADOPT WET NEUTRALITY.

    HOP off off base pH
     DNA test acid test AD
ant HEAP     antacid pH
stolen PESO        stolen base OP
     HYPER jump base jump pH
rain WATER      acid rain TW
        IPHONE battery battery acid pH
fan LETTER     fan base ET
stomach PUNCHES         stomach acid  pH
line NUMBERS      baseline NE
     PLYMOUTH rock acid rock pH
      UPMARKET value base value UT
        TELEGRAPH station base station pH
jazz ORCHESTRA      acid jazz RA
     HELICOPTER drop drop acid pH
salary INEQUALITY        base salary LI
     THERAPEUTIC bath acid bath pH
     SYMMETRICAL pair base pair TY