April Cocktail: Paper Plane Solution

29 of you solved the April Cocktail puzzle, Paper Plane, with 14 solving the original puzzle without any help. Congratulations to all! Below is the solved grid and an explanation of the final answer. A full solution, including cryptic solutions to every clue, is available for download on my Patreon page. If you haven't joined, sign up at https://www.patreon.com/negronis_cocktails, which will also give you access to future puzzles. The next Cocktail will launch on Saturday, June 14, at 4pm Eastern.

Cheers!

Negroni

24 clues contain a word from the aviation alphabet representing a letter. The clue 26D tells you to look at the "tails," or last letters of those clues, for step 1. In alphabet order, these spell TURN OVER FOLD IN AT GRID BASE. The other 23 clues must pick up a passenger, or letter, before solving; those, in clue order, spell FOLD DOWN CORNERS THEN LIFT. Using the entire printed clue and following these instructions (make your first fold at the bottom of the grid, then fold down the top corners to the center and unfold, or lift), you end up with the instructions and filled grid upside down, with crease marks as shown in this solution by the dotted line. The letters that crease line crosses (shown in light blue) spell LAST WORD AS IS. Keeping everything as is, follow the crease to the end; the last word it crosses is paper from the title, or, as is in this orientation and font, jaded.

About Me

My name is Martin Reinfried, and in some circles, I am known as Negroni. I have been writing puzzles for a long time, both for work and for fun, and I have always been enamored of cryptic crosswords, especially variety cryptics. I have written several variety cryptics, some for fun, some appearing in the MIT Mystery Hunt, and some published in the National Puzzlers League's Enigma magazine. Most of the variety cryptics I have written can be accessed at negroni.fun/puzzles. I am a software engineer, and I have been a co-founder of a couple of companies, including Shinteki, where I wrote a mobile app to run puzzle-based events. I live in Telluride, CO with my wife Dennise and son Max, and I look forward to providing you with a steady stream of variety cryptic puzzles.