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By Dan Katz
Answer: FIGHTING IRISH

For each of the given enumerations, five of the letter sequences below can be combined to form a clue of that enumeration. Each clue contains the word “this” and seems to reference something not given in the clue.

For each clue, the lengths of the five pieces combined, in order, form the zip code for an American city, and the name of that city is what the clue is referring to. For example, the first clue, MADE-UP TOWN WHERE THIS OPERA’S SET, has pieces of lengths 4,8,7,4,5. 48745 is the zip code for Mikado, MI, so “this opera” refers to The Mikado, and the answer to the clue is Titipu.

MADE/UP TOWN WH/ERE THIS/ OPER/AS SET 48745 Mikado, MI TITIPU
FIR/ST NAME OF/ THIS FI/LM HERO/INE 38663 Ripley, MS ELLEN
THE MONTH/ OF THI/S BIRT/HSTO/NE 85542 Peridot, AZ AUGUST
A/LIEN REPO/RTIN/G TO T/HIS LEADER 18449 Orson, PA MORK
THIS B/ANDS CU/RRENT/ RECORD LAB/EL 56592 Winger, MN FRONTIERS
CO/LOR O/F THIS/ ANI/MAL 24533 Clifford, VA RED
VEGETAB/L/E WI/TH THIS N/AME 71373 Vidalia, LA ONION
THE VIL/LAIN WHO C/URSES THI/S/ PRINCESS 68818 Aurora, NE MALEFICENT
CAPITA/L/ OF T/HIS NA/TION 61354 Peru, IL LIMA
BEINGS TH/AT M/ANUFACTU/RE FOR T/HIS MAN 83866 Santa, ID ELVES
CITY IN WH/IC/H THIS ST/A/DIUM IS 82716 Gillette, WY FOXBORO
THIS D/IRECTOR/S PA/ULNE/WMAN FILM 57348 Hitchcock, SD TORN CURTAIN
GIRL WHO D/ROWN/S BY THIS/ CA/STLE 84724 Elsinore, UT OPHELIA
DOCTO/R THAT THIS/ VILL/AIN ABH/ORS 59463 Monarch, MT VENTURE
LAR/GEST ROO/M/ IN THIS HA/BITATION 37188 White House, TN EAST ROOM
THIS BUF/FY C/HARACT/ERS SURN/AME 73673 Willow, OK ROSENBERG
THE MOST F/AMOUS OF TH/IS MA/NS/ PETS 89424 Nixon, NV CHECKERS
THIS C/ANADIAN F/RO/NTMAN/S BAND 58255 Maida, ND OUR LADY PEACE
FIVE FIL/M FRANCH/ISE/ STARRIN/G THIS MAN 77378 Willis, TX DIE HARD
THE MID/DLE NA/ME OF THI/S GHOST W/HEN ALIVE 65778 Myrtle, MO ELIZABETH

The first letters of the clue answers, in order, spell TEAM FROM LEFTOVER CODE. There are five unused pieces, which start with the letters A through E, giving them a natural ordering: AIGN, BORETH, CENON, DSENS, EEHERE. (The letters other than those initial letters spell the message IGNORE THE NONSENSE HERE.) The lengths of these pieces, in this order, are 46556. This is the zip code for the University of Notre Dame, and the team from this university is the FIGHTING IRISH.