PUZZLE #491
PATHFINDER 4
In this puzzle, each answer starts in the correspondingly numbered square, goes in the indicated direction, and makes at least one right-angled turn as it winds through the grid. When you're finished, every letter will be used in exactly two entries.
Once the grid is filled out, there should be another entry inside it that doesn't have a corresponding clue, nor does it start in a numbered space. This unlisted word is this week's FINAL ANSWER: a tool invented in the 19th century
1W) Muscular, yet stringy [6]
2W) Eye drop brand that "gets the red out" [6]
3W) Dwindling down [9]
4N) Use someone as a primary source of support [4 3]
5S) Mad Max: Fury _____ (2015 film) [4]
6N) Self-serving section of a Golden Corral [6]
7N) Cream-filled cookie that Weird Al's "The White Stuff" is about [4]
8N) 25 Words or _____ (Meredith Vieira-hosted game show) [4]
9N) Couple's night out [4]
10N) "Unharmonious" instant messaging app [7]
11E) Celestial [6]
12N) On the straight and _____ [6]
13S) Michael Jackson's out-of-this-world dance move [8]
14S) Tennis player Osaka who was born in Osaka [5]
15N) Nervous Nellies [10]
16S) Howling monsters such as Wayne from Hotel Transylvania [10]
17S) Often-restricted flight zones [9]
18N) Aesop character who removes a thorn from a lion's paw [9]
19S) Realm ruled by Princess Peach [8 7]
20S) "Pocket", "rocket", and "socket", for three [6]
21E) Beckon [6]
22S) "Oh, snap! What a clever comeback!" [4]
23S) Completely figure out, such as this puzzle (I hope!) [5]
24N) Innumerable [6]
25W) 9-1-1: Lone Star star and Mental Samurai host Rob [4]
26E) Win–_____ record (baseball stat) [4]
27E) Flipping over, as an unfortunate ship [9]
Once you think you know what the FINAL ANSWER is, send it to either redhead64@chartermi.net or itsredhead64@gmail.com (though I'm more likely to check the second one) and I'll put your name on a solvers list once I post the answers in about two weeks. You can also use those email addresses to give me some comments and feedback (or even ask for a hint, though you'll be marked as having used one if you do so) or send me the answer to last week's puzzle, if you haven't already figured it out. If you have a printer and want to solve this puzzle on paper, just head below the break for a link to a .PDF version which you can print out!
