OUT OF SORTS
Greg Pliska
The words from columns one and two pair up to become definitions for the words in column three. For example:
FRENCH LIQUEUR = CHARTREUSE
LOS ANGELES OUTFIELDER = CHEN
INDIGO TINT = ANIL
(There are many alternate pairings for certain column three words. “Faust”, for example, is both a French opera and a Gounod opera. But there is only one set of pairings that will use all the words in all the columns.)
The definition pairs from columns one and two, when sorted by the order already given in column three, look like this:
FRENCH LIQUEUR CHARTREUSE
LOS ANGELES OUTFIELDER CHEN
INDIGO TINT ANIL
GOUNOD OPERA FAUST
HANOI RIVER RED
TEXAS CITY PARIS
LONGFELLOW HERO HIAWATHA
EARLY INSTRUMENT SERPENT
SQUARE NUMBER NINE
SOUTH AFRICAN EXPORT GOLD
BROADWAY SHOW AIDA
IDENTITY ELEMENT ZERO
ROMAN GOD MERCURY
DIPLOMATIC OFFICIAL ATTACHE
FINANCIAL OPTIMIST BULL
OPERA SINGER BASS
RUSSIAN EDICT UKASE
MEXICAN BREED CHIHUAHUA
ESCAPE EXPERT HOUDINI
REEVE ROLE SUPERMAN
PAPAL ROBE ORALE
INDIAN YOUNGSTER PAPOOSE
Reading down the initial letters of column one, then column two, yields:
FLIGHTLESS BIRD, FORMER PILOT, OR CHINESE GOOSEBERRY
all of which are dictionary definitions for KIWI.
KIWI is the answer to this puzzle.