Solution to OOPS

by Alan Winson

"Millennium" is frequently misspelled with one N.

All the answers have a double N but appear with only one, and each haploid N is aligned in the same column. The initials of the answers use the letters in "millenium". The answers start with M until the length of an answer decreases. The new, shorter answer and succeeding answers start with an I until the next length decrease, etc. There is only one decrease for N, as you would expect. There should be two decreases for the double L but there is only one, so you could say the initials of the answers really use the letters in "milenium".

MANA   heaven-sent
MANER way, fashion, style
MADONA Evita and child (Madonna starred in the movie Evita)
MANHEIM singing German Steamroller (Mannheim Steamroller was a singing group)
MANEQUIN clothed wood
IN Holiday place
INATE part of the birth package
INOCENT what Lolita was not
INUENDO hint (out your door and…)
INUMERATE unable to handle math
LENY Mr. Bruce
LENON he’s dead, but not preserved (John Lennon; the body of V. I. Lenin is preserved)
LEANESS absence of fat
LACKAWANA half a weird railroad (the Erie-Lackawanna railroad)
LEADENESS heavy, dull, or gray state
ENUI this isn’t fun any more
ENOBLE dignify or exalt
EVENESS absence of perturbation
EQUESTRIENE she rides
NANY Mary Poppins, for example
NONY hey, it’s a word in a song (Hey Nonny Nonny)
NUNERY where to get thee cloistered
NONARCOTIC just say no (slogan of an anti-drug campaign)
NONEGOTIABLE take it or leave it
INIE recessed umbilical knot
INING six outs
INOVATE create
INOCUOUS harmless
UNCANY inexplicable, mysterious
UNFUNY like a lead balloon
UNERVE deflate the courage of
UNPLANED impromptu
UNATURAL proscribed acts
UNOTICED overlooked
UNECESSARY not the least bit essential
UNDERPININGS women’s underwear
MANED furnished with people
MINELLI Vincente (without a Z) (his daughter sang "Liza, with a Z")
MAYONAISE more than a clinic; dressing
MINEAPOLIS very close to HHH capital (St. Paul, capital of Hubert H. Humphrey's state)