Pitt County Crossroads

I read in the Reflector recently about D.H. Conley High School staging “Sister Act,” a musical based on the hit Whoopi Goldberg film of 1992. The show centers on Deloris Van Cartier, an aspiring singer who escapes her gangster boyfriend by hiding at a convent. Deloris struggles with her new environment, but her introduction to the convent’s struggling choir changes everything.

So it made me think of a riddle. A young woman had just become part of a 1-Across order but she often voiced her rather extreme 40-Across opinions. The mother superior advised her to keep her 24-Across to herself and try to blend in with a more traditional outlook. What is the word that she used for “traditional”? There’s a hyphen in the answer (in the 8th square) that makes it especially appropriate

To get the answer, rearrange the circled letters and place them in the blanks below the grid. (Anagram answer for previous puzzle: THE COMEDY OF ERAS)

Across

1 Like some sisters and brothers

10 Undrinkable type of cocktail

11 Ornery sort

13 With speed (2,5)

14 Rikki-tikki-___

15 Abel’s slayer

16 Supply of arms

18 “Hamlet” quintet

21 Taking a breather

23 “Xanadu” band, for short

24 Op-ed offerings

25 Request to Sajak (2,1)

26 Make grief-stricken

27 Sons of, in Hebrew

29 Wailer of Irish folklore

31 Words before “of gold” (1,3)

34 Historic spans

35 Hard to pin down

38 Kind of ranch

39 Small videorecorder

40 Word before correctness or science

Down

1 Columnist Barrett

2 K-12, educationally

3 Students often take them out

4 “___ about time!”

5 Survived, with “by”

6 Currier’s partner in lithography

7 Checkerboard rows, e.g.

8 Of the seventh planet

9 Tropical plain

10 Some sheets

12 Hull part

16 Delivery from a diva

17 Christopher who played “Superman”

19 Become sunny (5,2)

20 Funnel-shaped whirlwind

22 ___’ Pea (“Popeye” character)

23 Flowed back

24 Craft

27 Meat-and-potatoes

28 Couple, to a gossip columnist

30 Prefix with sphere

32 Type of type

33 Race track shape

36 Set fire to37 Prefix with corn

ANSWERS