The clues identify answer words in alphabetical order. Those answer words (in order) are:
| Clue | Answer |
|---|---|
| Here, in Barcelona | AQUI |
| Fighting force | ARMY |
| Miranda wondered where hers (like Ricky and Flula) were at in 2015 | BAES |
| Fights a shadow, metaphorically | BOXES |
| Pro wrestler whose film work runs the gamut from 2015’s Trainwreck to 2018’s Blockers | CENA |
| What one can do to nails, folders, or tax returns | FILE |
| Erstwhile pesticide brand for which Dr. Seuss (before he was known as such) illustrated some ads, named for how insects quickly move from place to place | FLIT |
| Indian spice also known as asafoetida | HING |
| Cookie locales | JARS |
| Movie whose sequel used the tagline “Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water” | JAWS |
| Single-season sitcom title role played by Molly Shannon | KATH |
| Presidential middle name | KNOX |
| Suffix meaning divination | MANCY |
| What one of the letters on a typical automatic transmission gear selector stands for | PARK |
| Conquering race in the 1982 novel Timelike Infinity | QAX |
| The U.S. Treasury is on their backs | TENS |
| Choreographer for the films Hair, Ragtime, Amadeus, and White Nights, as well as several Broadway productions | THARP |
| Rating suggesting the upcoming broadcast contains material that some “may find unsuitable for younger children” | TVPG |
| Monetary unit whose name is its country’s name with three adjacent internal letters missing | VATU |
| Fright, rainbow, or powdered item | WIG |
| It’s best made from a ductile metal | WIRE |
| Grobble, NumNum, Ol’ Scarface and other super-adaptable dinosaurlike hybrid monsters appearing in AdventureQuest | ZARDS |
| Electronic tablet series from ZTE | ZPAD |
There are many ways through the logic chain to place all the letters of the answer words, but the one below is among the most efficient, starting with noticing that BAES and CENA already have 3 of their 4 letters pre-placed on the gears. It is sometimes, but not always, possible to place a uniquely at the same time a letter is placed, but it is fine to wait until the end to place any ambiguous symbols (and leftover symbols) in the unused spaces -- their positions do not affect the logic of placing the letters.
- BAES (BAE on gears) places the S
- CENA (CEA on gears) places the N
- MANCY (ANC on gears) places the Y, narrows the M
- ARMY (AY, partial M on gears) places the M, narrows the R
- ZARDS (ADS partial R on gears) places the R, Z
- BOXES (BES on gears) narrows the O, X
- KNOX (N, partial OX on gears) places the O, X, narrows the K
- QAX (AX on gears) places the Q
- TENS (ENS on gears) narrows the T
- ZPAD (ZAD on gears) narrows the P
- THARP (AR, partial TP on gears) places the T, H, P
- PARK (PAR, partial K on gears) places the K
- AQUI and HING (AQHN on gears) place the I, U, G
- WIRE (IRE on gears) places the W
- VATU and TVPG (ATUPG on gears) place the V
- FLIT and FILE (ITE on gears) place the F, L
- JAWS (AWS on gears) places the J
JARS, KATH, WIG are already placed by other words (though might be used by solvers taking a different path through the logic). The gears look like this after the letter placements (blank spaces are to be filled with the remaining symbols):
Once the letters are placed on the gears, spell each word followed by landing on a . After each spelling, examine the gear indicated to the right of the clue, and take the letter in the circled space on that gear as it is oriented at the end of the spelling. Those letters, in order, spell: THE WORD AFTER WIZARDS STOP
Set the gears up to spell WIZARDS, immedately followed by a . As you continue to turn the gears they will next spell FLETCHING (immediately followed by a ), which is the answer to the puzzle and, per the flavortext, a real feather in your cap in this puzzle involving arrows.
The answer to the puzzle is FLETCHING.