The fragments can be reassembled to form clues to phrases that have the same cadence as "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". Once the clues are reassembled, find the sum of the four numbers following the clue fragments.
Using those sums as indexes into the answer phrases spells ANSWER NOW IS GRUE REPELLENT (which also has the same cadence as "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"), so the answer is GRUE REPELLENT.
| Initial Clue | 1st Clue Fragment | 2nd Clue Fragment | 3rd Clue Fragment | Answer to Clue | sum / index | Letter Extracted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s (16) | satirical soap opera (-5) | starring Louise Lasser as (3) | a housewife (-4) | Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman | 10 | A |
| Game (4) | based on connections (-7) | to the star of (11) | Footloose (9) | Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon | 17 | N |
| 2001 (20) | Daft Punk song (1) | sampled by Kanye West in (-5) | a 2007 single (3) | "Harder Better Faster Stronger" | 19 | S |
| 1993 (10) | TV series (-6) | that re-used footage from (7) | Super Sentai (5) | Mighty Morphin Power Rangers | 16 | W |
| 1994 (15) | Jim Carrey movie (-4) | about the search for (-3) | a missing dolphin (7) | Ace Ventura: Pet Detective | 15 | E |
| Repetitively-named character (2) | played by Bob Newhart (-8) | in the 1970 film (2) | Catch-22 (14) | Major Major Major Major | 10 | R |
| 1951 (22) | host city (0) | of the first (12) | Pan American Games (-15) | Buenos Aires, Argentina | 19 | N |
| 1954 (3) | musical (8) | with a famous (-4) | barn-raising sequence (6) | Seven Brides for Seven Brothers | 13 | O |
| Principle (13) | describing the rate of change (7) | of momentum of (-8) | an object (4) | Newton's Second Law of Motion | 16 | W |
| Institution (12) | of higher education (-3) | located on (10) | Majuro Atoll (2) | College of the Marshall Islands | 21 | I |
| Fast-food (9) | magnate (6) | whose nickname is (-1) | a military rank (12) | "Colonel" Harland David Sanders | 26 | S |
| Dancing (8) | pair (-2) | featured in (8) | "Top Hat" (1) | Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers | 15 | G |
| 2000 (5) | Ang Lee film (3) | featuring dialogue in (-2) | Mandarin (8) | Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon | 14 | R |
| Complex (11) | in Richmond (2) | honoring the author of (4) | "The Raven" (-2) | Edgar Allen Poe Museum | 15 | U |
| 1975 (21) | Paul Simon song (-10) | with lyrics about (13) | Stan and Gus (-11) | "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" | 13 | E |
| First words (1) | spoken in unison (-9) | in Act IV of (14) | "Macbeth" (15) | "Double, double toil and trouble" | 21 | R |
| Territorial units (18) | that include (-12) | Klatovy, Svitavy, and (1) | Znojmo (10) | Districts of the Czech Republic | 17 | E |
| 1992 (14) | R.E.M. album (5) | featuring the song (6) | "Everybody Hurts" (-6) | Automatic for the People | 19 | P |
| Disneyland (24) | attraction (11) | that inspired (0) | a movie franchise (-16) | Pirates of the Caribbean | 19 | E |
| West Coast (23) | city (-11) | at one end of (12) | the Golden Gate Bridge (-9) | San Francisco, California | 15 | L |
| British (6) | sketch series (10) | featuring drawings by (5) | an American (-7) | Monty Python's Flying Circus | 14 | L |
| Recently founded (19) | academic division (9) | that co-houses (-13) | MIT Course 6 (0) | Schwarzman College of Computing | 15 | E |
| Title character (7) | of a nursery rhyme (4) | about a man named (9) | for his gourd-based diet (-3) | Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater | 17 | N |
| Sports (17) | franchise (-1) | previously known as (-14) | the Seattle SuperSonics (11) | Oklahoma City Thunder | 13 | T |
Authors' Notes
You know what's fun?
Mike and I wrote a puzzle about how you can do that with a lot of phrases. We hope you enjoy it.
Fun fact: these can also be read to the tune of "glory glory hallelujah" from the Battle Hymn of the Republic.