PUZZLE #7: Flower Power

PUZZLE #7

FLOWER POWER

The answers to this petaled puzzle will go in a curve from the number on the outside to the center of the flower. Each number in the flower will have two 5-letter answers, one going in a clockwise direction, and the other going in a counterclockwise direction. However, for this initial harder version, I won't reveal which answer goes in which direction! Once you're done, the numbered tips of each petal, reading clockwise, will spell out a clue that will lead you to the FINAL ANSWER.

Grid from Penny Press

CLUES

1)  Cocoon contents / Hungarian sheepdogs

2)  Ford and Lincoln / Network that went from Biography to Duck Dynasty

3)  Winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature / Rabbit fur

4)  Elbow bones / Russian range

5)  Helga Von Guggen's bodyguard from Totally Spies! / Joyce Kilmer poem

6)  Thank You Shirl-_____ (Shawn Amos album) / Remove from the DVR

7)  Monster girls that are part snake / Character played by Parminder Nagra on ER

8)  Former child actor Willie / Raptor's roost

9)  Saturns and Dreamcasts / Sing-_____ (Mocking way of saying something like "I know something that yooouuu don't!")

10)  June who voiced Looney Tunes' Witch Hazel / Green-clad fairy from Sleeping Beauty

11)  Type of chemical bond / _____ Bored (Smosh series)

12)  Beautiful bat from the Sonic series / Actors' parts

13)  Super Smash Bros. for WiiU character with a "Zero Suit" / Actor Chiba from Kill Bill: Vol. 1

14)  Daughter of Ra's Al Ghul / Multiplication or periodic

15)  Upcoming wearable tech from Google / "Clay Shooting" mode in Duck Hunt (I may or may not have stupidly put part of the FINAL ANSWER's clue in most of this answer)

16)  Final Fantasy VII character famous for dying / Harry Potter's youngest son

17)  Recurring ranch owner from the Zelda series / Breakfast, lunch, and dinner

18)  Scottish Gaelic / Florida's 1,499-ft. Cox Radio Tower _____

I know a lot of these clues look difficult, obtuse, and/or are only known by certain people who play Nintendo and the like, but I'd like to use this opportunity to remind you that you are allowed to look up clues you don't know! (After all, I doubt anyone will know that Shawn Amos album otherwise; the answer for that one, admittedly, is some pretty awful fill) If you rather not look up the answers for whatever reason, I'll be publishing a different version of this puzzle next Sunday with easier clues.

As usual, if/when you figure out the FINAL ANSWER, send it to either redhead64@chartermi.net or itsredhead64@gmail.com and I'll give you credit for solving it about two weeks from now. You can also use those email addresses to send me the FINAL ANSWER to last week's puzzle (which you can solve either here or here). If you want a version of this puzzle you can print out, head below the break to do just that!