Every puzzle answer is part of some ordered list of things. Each puzzle answer is from a different list of things, and their position in that list is between 1 and 16. This can be used to order the answers.
Based on the flavor text of "almost but not quite at the end", we should consider the 2nd-to-last item of each list, then take the 2nd-to-last letter to get the answer PEN MULTIPLE MATES. (Archival note: entries were 2nd-last at the time MIT Mystery Hunt 2023 ran.)
Order
Answer
Category
Penultimate
1
SOLID YELLOW
Billiard balls
GREEN STRIPE
P
2
DANCER
Santa's reindeer
BLITZEN
E
3
LITHIUM
Elements
TENNESSINE
N
4
MOUNT WARIO
Mario Kart 8 Star Cup Tracks
ELECTRODROME
M
5
JUPITER
Planets
URANUS
U
6
I DUE FOSCARI
Operas by Giuseppe Verdi
OTELLO
L
7
CONSULTING DETECTIVE
Spiel des Jahres Game of the Year
MICROMACRO: CRIME CITY
T
8
SAMUEL WESLEY STRATTON
MIT Presidents
LEO RAFAEL REIF
I
9
ISSACHAR
Twelve Tribes of Israel (order of birth)
JOSEPH
P
10
WAR STORIES
Firefly episode titles
HEART OF GOLD
L
11
WATERLESS MOUNTAIN
Newbery Medal winners
WHEN YOU TRAP A TIGER
E
12
MANHASSET
Long Island Rail Road's Port Washington Branch stations
PLANDOME
M
13
JUSTIFY
Triple Crown winners
AMERICAN PHAROAH
A
14
COMA WHITE
Mechanical Animals tracks (CD version)
THE LAST DAY ON EARTH
T
15
INSIDE OUT
Pixar movies
TURNING RED
E
16
PI
Greek letters
PSI
S
Authors' Notes
This meta was written in March, and we needed to make sure the answers would still be correct at the time MIT Mystery Hunt would run. For example, we found that the Newbery Medal is awarded in late January each year, so this puzzle will be inaccurate within a few weeks of Hunt, which might be a new record.
We deemed our highest risks were:
L. Rafael Reif not resigning when he said he would (end of 2022)
A new Triple Crown winner, which had 9-to-2 = 18% odds according to betting sites.
Battle for Azeroth, the 7th (out of 8) World of Warcraft expansion packs.
This gave us a reason to care about horse racing for a few months. We were extra excited when Rich Strike won the Derby as an enormous longshot, since they were not participating in the Preakness Stakes, guaranteeing no new Triple Crown winner. In April 2022, World of Warcraft: Dragonflight was announced to be released in November 2022, which invalidated that option.
Some answers that were rejected for various reasons: