ANSWERS: Honeycomb

It's been almost two weeks since my first proper "Honeycomb" puzzle was posted on this blog, and an impressive twelve people have correctly solved it since then, all of whom you can view in this list:

• Grant Fikes ****
• Joe Bernard ****
• Tyler Hinman ****
• Kevin Orfield ****
• Stephen Potter ****
• Mom ****
• Sam Levitin ****
• Cindy Heisler ****
• Patrick Jordan ****
• Debbie Benford ***
• Lynn Sweeney ***
• Eric Maddy ****

Now head below the break for the answers and some solver comments!

1) VERNON, 2) MARINO, 3) THORAX, 4) SHEATH, 5) DERULO, 6) TURNIP, 7) PRIORI, 8) HOISTS, 9) STITCH, 10) RICOLA, 11) SALUTE, 12) PRESET, 13) DESIRE, 14) STIFLE, 15) FRUTTI, 16) AIR BUD, 17) SOMBRA, 18) ONUSES, 19) PAUSED, 20) POOLED, 21) FLOWER, 22) LAUREL, 23) NIMBUS, 24) SIMONE, 25) NUANCE, 26) IN A POD, 27) DOO-WOP, 28) TROWEL, 29) ADONIS, 30) IN A SEC, 31) PICNIC, 32) PLACID, 33) PORTAL, 34) DANCER, 35) CHOPIN, 36) POP CAN, 37) LAGUNA

The letters in the colored hexagons, when read clockwise, read out GRAVEL

Patron Joe Bernard said that he "initially misread the clue for the final answer and thought the word would somehow be spelled both CW and CCW"

Two of my solvers came up with identical puns; Patron Tyler Hinman said that "That answer rocks", while solver Cindy Heisler said "After a "rocky" start my Final Answer is GRAVEL"