This metapuzzle requires the answers from the previous two months. They are GRIT, ESCAPES, BUY, DEUCE, COVERT, FIST, HOSE, and INFECTION. The metapuzzle provides eight clues, which do not define these eight words. The breakthrough comes in realizing that the clues all describe the puzzle answers with an additional letter added – the “missing piece” of the puzzle title. The clues and their corresponding answers are:
- Change – CO[N]VERT
- Figure out – DE[D]UCE
- Former prisoners – ESCAP[E]ES
- Home – HO[U]SE
- Modulation – INF[L]ECTION
- Original – FI[R]ST
- Support – BU[O]Y
- Swindle – GRI[F]T
These extra letters don’t spell anything in the order given, but that order is merely alphabetical by clue. Solvers will notice that the answers begin with the letters from B through I. Putting the answers in alphabetical order gives the following:
- BU[O]Y
- CO[N]VERT
- DE[D]UCE
- ESCAP[E]ES
- FI[R]ST
- GRI[F]T
- HO[U]SE
- INF[L]ECTION
In this order, the added letters spell out ONDERFUL. The lack of a word starting with A suggests adding a letter to the front of this to form the answer WONDERFUL, as in “You did a wonderful job in solving this puzzle!”
