Daily puzzles/problems.

[kasie]

Ah, that'll be "By and Large" then. Something to do with wind direction ?

That's it, Mick - I think it's something to do with using an adverse wind to move forward. My old seafaring chap explained it to me and Patrick O'Brian has Jack Aubrey use it from time to time but it's all a bit to complicated for a sworn landlubber like me. How did I ever come to marry a sailor??

And yes, 9 and 16 are correct.

Just two to go - think Detective stories (possibly) and banquets......

[prendrelemick]

18. My lords, ladies and Gentleman.

[MarkBastable]

...an open and shut case

[Calidore]

I've never come across 1, 5, and 14 before. What are they from?

[prendrelemick]

1. Is a nautical term. Ships from Bristol were supposed to be more polished, looked after and properly run.

5. Is a way of saying everybody. No idea where it comes from.

14. Is a well known nursery rhyme, based on the different sounds of church bells in London.

Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St Clements,
You owe me five farthings, say the bells of St Martins,
When will you pay me, say the bells of Old Bailey,
When I grow rich, say the bells of Shoreditch,
When will that be, say the bells of Stepney,
I do not know, say the great bells of Bow,
Here comes a candle to light you to bed,
And here comes the axeman to chop off your head,
Chop! Chop! off goes the next man's head.

There was a game we used to play with it as well.

Ahh memories...

[kasie]

Well done, folks - down to you now, Mick, I think.....

[MarkBastable]

A bit more on 'Bristol fashion' (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shipshape_and_Bristol_fashion), suggesting a practical reason for ships in Bristol Harbour having to be well-organised.

[billl]

Yes, the difference in the clothes she wears--down to Mick...

[Calidore]

Thanks for the education, prendrelemick!

[prendrelemick]

You have a 6 inch tall cylindrical glass with some water in it. You know the glass holds 12 fl oz when full. When you tilt the glass untill the water is just at the brim on one side, it is 4 inches below the rim on the other. How much water is in the glass.?

[Ecurb]

You have a 6 inch tall cylindrical glass with some water in it. You know the glass holds 12 fl oz when full. When you tilt the glass untill the water is just at the brim on one side, it is 4 inches below the rim on the other. How much water is in the glass.?

I haven't taken a math class in many decades. However, 8 oz. seems the obvious answer. In other words, 1/3 of the original in the 2" of cylinder at the bottom (4 oz.) + 1/2 of the remaining 2/3 volume (another 4 oz.).

[prendrelemick]

Well, that was treated with the contempt it deserved. Probably the fastest ever correct answer.

Your turn to post something Ecurb.

[Ecurb]

How many times must a man look up before he can see the sky?

(OK, that one's too easy. I'll come up with something else.)

Here's one from Lewis Carrol:

1) There are no pencils of mine in this box.
2) No sugar-plumbs of mine are cigars.
3) The whole of my property, that is not in the box, consists of cigars

Assuming these three axioms, what can we conclude?

[MarkBastable]

How many times must a man look up before he can see the sky?

(OK, that one's too easy. I'll come up with something else.)

Here's one from Lewis Carrol:

1) There are no pencils of mine in this box.
2) No sugar-plumbs of mine are cigars.
3) The whole of my property, that is not in the box, consists of cigars

Assuming these three axioms, what can we conclude?

If he owns any sugar-plums, they're in the box. He owns no pencils. The fetishistically narrow investment in cigars is unlikely to turn out well, even if he resists smoking his assets.

[billl]

You only own cigars. And things that aren't pencils, but are in that box (which belongs to someone else).

[prendrelemick]

You only own cigars. And things that aren't pencils, but are in that box (which belongs to someone else).




Notice "sugar-plumbs" not "plums" which has leadey and therefore pencily conotations. (Plumbagoi is a name for the graphite used in pencils)


I think we can assume that he has some sugar-plumbs from the second statement, and (a weaker assumption) that there are some pencis in the box from the first statement. So we have to assume the sugar plumbs are in the box from the third. BUT because of the wording these are assumpions only


To sum up:

It is likely that the box contains someone else's pencils and his own sugar-plumbs. He also owns more than one cigar.

[Ecurb]

According to Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll), the answer is: "No pencils of mine are sugar-plumbs."

Here's an explanation:
http://www.mathorama.com/geom/lessons/puzzle2.html

[prendrelemick]

We have gone to where logic slips the surly bonds of reality, where I struggle to follow.


I wonder what Sherlock Holmes would've come up with?

[Ecurb]

OK, I'll grant that was a hard one. Here's another Lewis Carroll puzzle that's a little easier:

No kitten that loves fish is unteachable.
No kitten without a tail will play with a gorilla.
Kittens with whiskers always love fish.
No teachable kitten has green eyes.
No kittens have tails unless they have whiskers.

What can we conclude?

[billl]

OK, I'll grant that was a hard one. Here's another Lewis Carroll puzzle that's a little easier:

No kitten that loves fish is unteachable.
No kitten without a tail will play with a gorilla.
Kittens with whiskers always love fish.
No teachable kitten has green eyes.
No kittens have tails unless they have whiskers.

What can we conclude?

Is the answer short and snappy, or lengthy? One short answer would maybe be:

No green-eyed kittens will play with gorillas.

[Ecurb]

For some reason, Carrol says, "Only a kitten without green eyes will play with a gorilla."

Your answer seems the same to me, billl.

[billl]

Yeah, I had to choose how to express it. I thought I might have gotten it, but wasn't sure if maybe there was something further he might've been looking for. To know what's being looked for, one has to sort of see how it's set up to lead to one conclusion that's most "difficult" or "indirect".

The green eyes and the gorilla-playing were the only things that didn't get mentioned twice, so that's what we have to look at (have to connect, apparently).

Here's the work, because it's fun and satisfying to lay it out. (Nothing about my pride or ego or anything like that.)


No kitten that loves fish is unteachable.
No kitten without a tail will play with a gorilla.
Kittens with whiskers always love fish.
No teachable kitten has green eyes.
No kittens have tails unless they have whiskers.


IF THEN STATEMENTS
If a kitten plays with a gorilla, it will have a tail. (rewording sentence 2)
AND
If a kitten has a tail, it will have whiskers. (5)
AND
If a kitten has whiskers, it will love fish. (3)
AND
If a kitten loves fish, it is teachable. (1)
AND
If a kitten is teachable, it won't have green eyes. (4)

Using deduction (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllogism), we get:

If a kitten plays with a gorilla, it won't have green eyes.

[billl]

Here's an old Hindu puzzle (I originally found it in a Raymond Smullyan book):


Out of a swarm of bees one-fifth part settled on a Kadamba blossom; one-third on a Silindhra flower; three times the difference of those numbers flew to the bloom of a Kutaja. One bee, which remained, hovered about in the air. Tell me, charming woman, the number of bees

[jajdude]

46?

just a guess

[billl]

sorry, jajdude...

[kasie]

15??? (The extra ?s are there not only because I'm not sure of the answer but because the system [They] won't let me post 15? because it's less than five letters/figures.)

[Ecurb]

Fifteen is correct! Kasie rules (I got the same answer before looking at Kasie's though).

[billl]

Good going, guys.

[kasie]

I have a busy day ahead, so I ask your indulgence while I think of a new puzzle, folks. Also I need more time to recover from those Lewis Carroll teasers - nothing so tortuous will be coming from me, I promise!

[jajdude]

Well done, kasie.

[kasie]

OK - I've thunk - two of these actually appeared in the crossword and Codeword I did yesterday after lunch.

CROSSWORD CLUES

1 a fish (3)

2 You're being watched! (abbrev) (4)

3 South American tylopod (5)

4 one of these is very short (abbrev) (2)

5 strange and disturbing (5)

6 give out moisture (4)

7 always poetic (3)

8 with reference to the Pope (abbrev) (2)

9 very quietly (mus) (2)

10 leading African mammal (8)

11 sedimentary rock (6)

12 given to an exceptionally brave soldier (abbrev) (2)

13 a very small volume (abbrev) (2)

14 study of birds' eggs (6)

15 for and on behalf of (abbrev) (2)

16 critical day of action (1,3)

17 a very modern address (abbrev) (3)

18 black Chinese tea (6)

19 Manx races (abbrev) (2)

20 lots and lots (6)

So, what's the pattern? Once you have a couple, you'll see it. (And just to be kind, I didn't include words that cropped up in my Welsh lesson yesterday, such as 'Where do you live?' followed by 'Where's that?)

[MarkBastable]

They're all two-syllable rhymes?

(Having said that, the tylopod doesn't quite rhyme in my accent. And, wait, the study of bird's eggs is oology. Okay, forget that...)

1 a fish (3)

2 You're being watched! (abbrev) (4)

3 South American tylopod (5) llama

4 one of these is very short (abbrev) (2)

5 strange and disturbing (5) creepy

6 give out moisture (4)

7 always poetic (3)

8 with reference to the Pope (abbrev) (2)

9 very quietly (mus) (2) pp

10 leading African mammal (8)

11 sedimentary rock (6)

12 given to an exceptionally brave soldier (abbrev) (2) vc

13 a very small volume (abbrev) (2) cc

14 study of birds' eggs (6)

15 for and on behalf of (abbrev) (2) pp

16 critical day of action (1,3)

17 a very modern address (abbrev) (3)

18 black Chinese tea (6)

19 Manx races (abbrev) (2) tt

20 lots and lots (6)

[prendrelemick]

The fish may be a dab or an eel or a cod, I suspect that once we get the pattern we'll know which. Hmm COD is also an abbrev..

Unfortunately Elephant isn't.

[kasie]

Mark - yes to 3, 9, 9, 15, 19; no to 5 and 12 (not what I had in mind anyway.) and you should have gone with the birds' eggs idea.... And good idea about the two syllable rhymes -a future puzzle there, I think.

Mick - yes, it's one of those. :smile5: And beware of 'leading' - these are crossword clues.

The abbreviations are a bit of a cheat, really, they are there to bulk up the quiz but they are all in the dictionary, the Chambers 21st Century dictionary, anyway.

[MarkBastable]

I suspect 2 is cctv, and 6 is seep. Is 7 e'er and 16 D-Day?

Does this have something to do with the way that the answers can be 'fitted together'?

[kasie]

Mark - yes to 2, 7 and 16; not what I had in mind for 6 but I suspect you are getting close to working out the link.

[MarkBastable]

Mark - yes to 2, 7 and 16; not what I had in mind for 6 but I suspect you are getting close to working out the link.


Oh no I'm not.

There are several six-letter sedimentary rocks, but for no reason at all I've decided it's gypsum.


(Except it's going to be oolite, isn't it?)

[kasie]

:D (kasie does her Cheshire Cat impression.)

Not gypsum but you're nearly there, Mark......

[prendrelemick]

Ok, the link is now obvious, so I know its eel and ooze, and perhaps gazelle or baboon, but Mark is the only winner here.

[kasie]

Mick - yes to eel and ooze, but no to gazelle or baboon - you haven't quite got the link yet.

[prendrelemick]

I think I have it now. but still can't get many answers.

20. oodles
5. eerie
16. D day

[billl]

4 mm
10 Aardvark
18 oolong

[MarkBastable]

Not gypsum...


I think I said that I knew it wasn't.

To be fair, and not wishing to take credit I'm not due, I can't see what's wrong with Mick's 'baboon'.

Or perhaps I can. In which case, bill's right that it's 'aardvark'. Which would make 17 www.

[kasie]

Well done, folks - let's do a recap:

[QUOTE=kasie;1048667]CROSSWORD CLUES

1 a fish (3) eel

2 You're being watched! (abbrev) (4) CCTV

3 South American tylopod (5) llama

4 one of these is very short (abbrev) (2)

5 strange and disturbing (5) eerie

6 give out moisture (4) ooze

7 always poetic (3) e'er

8 with reference to the Pope (abbrev) (2)

9 very quietly (mus) (2) pp

10 leading African mammal (8) aardvark

11 sedimentary rock (6) oolite

12 given to an exceptionally brave soldier (abbrev) (2)

13 a very small volume (abbrev) (2) cc

14 study of birds' eggs (6) oology

15 for and on behalf of (abbrev) (2) pp

16 critical day of action (1,3) D Day

17 a very modern address (abbrev) (3) www

18 black Chinese tea (6) oolong

19 Manx races (abbrev) (2) TT

20 lots and lots (6) oodles

Well done everyone but - what's the pattern? Any takers for the last few? [QUOTE]

[MarkBastable]

Double first letters.

Without looking it up, I'd guess that the Pope one is another pp. Or possibly pP. And bill suggested mm for 4.

[prendrelemick]

Hang on. Who got e'er and how does that work?


Ah, a poetic ever. Bit slow there.


Just the brave soldier then. Is MM short for Military Medal?

I think the Pope's signiture is followed by pp for Papa.

[kasie]

That's it, Mark!

Apologies to Billl, I overlooked the mm solution.

Yes, Mick - Military Medal was the one I had in mind. You and Mark may be right about the pp (or pP) for the Pope but the one I found in the dictionary was HH - His Holiness.

Over to Mark, I think.

[MarkBastable]

For this one, IM me your responses.


1. Request for gratification.

2. Accompanying the creators.

3. A dark passage of inflexible light.

4. Buggy retail.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.



I don't want the answer to number 5 - I want a clue to it. When someone gives a clue that implies they know the answer, I'll update the list and everyone else can have a shot at coming up with a clue for 6. And so on.


I can't decide whether this is ridiculously easy or unjustifiably hard.

[kasie]

er....... or then again maybe... er....

Perhaps just a teeny clue, Mark?

[prendrelemick]

Don't know about IMing, so have PM'd my clue for no.5


Like any puzzle, it's easy once you've twigged it.

[MarkBastable]

Update....

Mick and Kasie have got it, so they're out. I've put in a clue to number 5.

Everyone else - PM me your clues for number 6.


1. Request for gratification.

2. Accompanying the creators.

3. A dark passage of inflexible light.

4. Buggy retail.

5. Mayday.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

[MarkBastable]

No action. Shall I kill this one?

[billl]

I would've asked for a clue, but... These are clues, right?

I think I might know number 1, but the next most promising was 4, and it's 3 away from one, so the sky's the limit. This is enticing, but I just had trouble getting it to click--hope it won't seem toooo obvious once I find out.

[MarkBastable]

1. Request for gratification. Please Please Me

2. Accompanying the creators. With the Beatles

3. A dark passage of inflexible light. A Hard Day's Night

4. Buggy retail. Beatles for Sale

5. Mayday. Help!


...and so on.

Mick got it first. Over to him.

[prendrelemick]

I have a little something prepared..er..copied if I'm honest.


Gudewife Judith returns from milking the goats with a 12 pint bucket brimfull of milk. She decides to use half to make cheese and half to make syllabub. She hunts about in her dairy but can only find her 5 pint earthernware pot and her 7 pint earthernware bowl. Undeterred she sets about pouring milk into and out of her 3 vessels and soon has exactly 6 pints in the bucket and 6 pints in the bowl. How does she do it.?

[MarkBastable]

12 7 5 Receptacles

Can't get the columns to line up, but....

12 0 0
5 7 0
5 2 5
10 2 0
10 0 2
3 7 2
3 4 5
8 4 0
8 0 4
1 7 4
1 6 5
6 6 0


I really ought to do some work soon.

[prendrelemick]

faultless.

[MarkBastable]

faultless.

Thank you. But really a lot easier than that explanation makes it look.

[prendrelemick]

Yes it is, all you need do is make sure you never repeat yourself and it works automatically.

[billl]

In the grown-up version, the containers are held by two sheep and a wolf, who have to cross a river in a canoe that can hold only two at once.


(To be clear, actually, that was a great puzzle, wish I had gone after it right away... Maybe just plugging away, half-asleep, would've won me the prize! Anyhow, both of you have been an inspiration...)

[MarkBastable]

Literary 'and's... Again, they aren't any old 'and'. They're either intrinsic to the answer or, at the very least, indicative of how to figure it out.

The convention here is that titles are in caps and quotations aren't, regardless of how they'd be set if they were printed in full...


1. O&L

2. Lugt,y&i...

3. TP&TG

4. TM&S

5.J&TP

6. Itbww,&twwwg,&twwg.

7.GE&H

8. D&S

9. DS:OHILTSW&LTB

10. TH&HB

11.TTLG,&WAFT

12. F&Z

13. DJ&MH

14. Z&TAOMM

15. Ouat&avgtiwtwamcdatr...

16. DL&TLG

17. TS&TF

18. Iwad&sn...

19. Iwabcdia,&tcws13.

20. Iyrwthai, tftypwtkiwiwb, &wmlcwl, &hmpwo&abthm, &atdckoc...

[prendrelemick]

Recognised 14 straightaway.
Zen and the art of Motercycle Maintainance.
8. Dombey and son.


Will try harder tomorrow.

[Calidore]

2. Let us go there, you and I (?)

[Calidore]

18. It was a dark and stormy night.

[MarkBastable]

2. Let us go there, you and I (?)

...'then', rather than 'there' - but close enough.

[prendrelemick]

19 "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen".

[billl]

5. Josie and the Pussycats
9. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
12. Franny and Zooey

[MarkBastable]

Update...


1. O&L Oscar and Lucinda

2. Lugt,y&i... Let us go then, you and I....

3. TP&TG The Power and the Glory

4. TM&S

5. J&TP

6. Itbww,&twwwg,&twwg. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and so on and so forth....

7.GE&H

8. D&S Dombey and Son

9. DS:OHILTSW&LTB Dr Strangelove: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

10. TH&HB The Horse and His Boy

11.TTLG,&WAFT Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There

12. F&Z Franny and Zooey

13. DJ&MH Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

14. Z&TAOMM Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

15. Ouat&avgtiwtwamcdatr... Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down the along road...

16. DL&TLG

17. TS&TF The Sound and the Fury

18. Iwad&sn... It was a dark and stormy night...

19. Iwabcdia,&tcws13. It was a bright cold day in the April and the clocks were striking thirteen.

20. Iyrwthai, tftypwtkiwiwb, &wmlcwl, &hmpwo&abthm, &atdckoc... If you really want to hear about it... And so on. The (long) opening sentence of Catcher in the Rye.

[Jack of Hearts]

3. The Princess and the Goblin

11. Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There

13. Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde (shouldn't this be 'The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde'?)

15. Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moo cow coming down the along road...

17. The Sound and the Fury







J

[Annamariah]

10. The Horse and His Boy

[MarkBastable]

3. The Princess and the Goblin

11. Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There

13. Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde (shouldn't this be 'The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde'?)

15. Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moo cow coming down the along road...

17. The Sound and the Fury

J


I've never heard of your number 3 - it's not the one I had in mind, which I'll hold out for.

Yeah - you're right about Jekyll and Hyde.

[kasie]

3 The Power and The Glory.

[prendrelemick]

Have you missed a 't' out of number 6, ie- In the beginning was the word.?

[MarkBastable]

Have you missed a 't' out of number 6, ie- In the beginning was the word.?

Er, yeah. Sorry.

Wouldn't it be intriguing if I'd said 'no', and you had to find a completely different answer?

[prendrelemick]

1. Oscar and Lucinda.

20. If you really want to know about it, ect.. Catcher in the Rye

[MarkBastable]

Scroll down a bit for the update. Only three or four left, which are (to give further clues) an Irish play referring to an exotic bird, a London novel in which many real people appear, a novel that moves from London to Tahiti via Paris and a children's book with culinary associations.

[Jack of Hearts]

takethemick is on a roll.






J

[kasie]

4 The Moon and Sixpence.

5 Juno and The Paycock.

[billl]

7. Green Eggs & Ham (thanks to the clue...)

[MarkBastable]

The last one - DL&TLG - is set in the Victorian era: a music-hall star appears in the title, as does a district of London and a kind of zombie. I think that the book might have been given a different title in America - for which I apologise.

[kasie]

ah - that would be Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem - and I would never have got it without the clue!!

A tricky set of clues, Mark!

[MarkBastable]

Can whoever got the most right do the next one? Or you can wait until I count it up, which is likely not to be until Friday, as I have to go to Scotland tomorrow and the very prospect so disturbs me that I'm going to have to start drinking heavily forthwith.

[Calidore]

Can whoever got the most right do the next one? Or you can wait until I count it up, which is likely not to be until Friday, as I have to go to Scotland tomorrow and the very prospect so disturbs me that I'm going to have to start drinking heavily forthwith.

Scotland is an excellent place to drink if you like scotch.

I never heard of that last one. What's the American title?

[MarkBastable]

Scotland is an excellent place to drink if you like scotch.

I never heard of that last one. What's the American title?

Well, I don't know for sure that it was re-titled in America, but Wikipedia mentions that it was 'also published as The Trial of Elizabeth Cree'). Both appear on Amazon US.

I don't like scotch, actually. I'm with Adrian Mole on whisky: If it came in medicine bottles, grown-ups would pour it down the sink.

[MarkBastable]

A rough tot-up suggests to me that it's Mick's turn.

[billl]

Yep. I know I have no power here, especially with my meager (but respectable!) recent contribution(s!), but I think it might be worth mentioning that, really, if ANYONE has something good, they could probably go ahead and throw it out there (with apologies to the last "winner") after 24 hours or so.

That's just my thoughts on it, anyhow, since we've been bleeding each other dry, and racing around the globe (or city. or Yorkshire.) doing other things.

[kasie]

Quite so, billl - I'm sure Mick will not mind - if you have a good puzzle to offer, go ahead, I'd say.

[billl]

Oh, um. Yes. Quite right. Same for all of us. Me, as well. Anyone. Right, umm...

[prendrelemick]

Please go ahead billl, I didn't realise it was my turn, I have nothing prepared.

[prendrelemick]

Ok, to keep this thing ticking over, here is something I shamelessly copied.


Pair up these random words and connect each pair with a five letter word. eg "shop" and "boards" can be connected with "floor".

each
shop
icon
clock
village
side
ring
spring
super
smoke
cream
boards
wise
hair

[MarkBastable]

shop floor boards
smoke alarm clock
spring onion ring
super model village
hair style icon
each other wise
side salad cream


I'm not sure the Americans would ever have got 'salad cream'.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This lot can be divided into three groups of five, with one odd-one-out.



harvey daddy alan maid
shake party ceremony cane
bag plantation grounds clipper
dance round breast bowl

[prendrelemick]

cane, daddy, Alan, plantation and bowl = sugar
shake, maid, breast, round and harvey = milk
clipper, ceremony, bag, dance and party = tea

grounds is the odd one out.


I think billl ought to set one about corn dogs and hershey bars to restore transatlantic balance.

[billl]

Yes, hopefully, if all goes well, I'll work a little magic tomorrow. I have to go to the dentist, though, and it isn't just a check-up. Maybe OK, though--and if so, I'd subsequently be delighted to sit here and come up with a little something to alleviate the awful deficit that's been built up.

[kasie]

harvey = milk??? This one escapes me - can anyone explain, please?

I thought you'd gone north of the border, Mark? They let you back into the country, then?

[MarkBastable]

harvey = milk??? This one escapes me - can anyone explain, please?


Harvey Milk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Milk) - American activist and politician, subject of a recent biopic starring Sean Penn.

[kasie]

Thanks, Mark - have never heard of the man or the biopic but then, I don't get out much. (Have heard of Sean Penn.)

[billl]

Doh! Nah, it's cool.
It was dinner for one again, and so Mr. Singleton stopped by the market on the way home--he had to buy a small packet of flour for the evening's pizza. When he got home, he went right to the kitchen, poured the flour into a bowl, and whipped-up some dough. Soon, he was flipping that dough around and rolling it flat, eventually forming a typical (albeit smallish, 20 cm across...) circular pizza-shape, one cm thick.

It was then that he realized that he had forgotten to buy the sauce. Frustrated for just a moment, he checked that he had some butter and garlic in the fridge, and then went about shaping the dough into a long two-cm-thick sausage-shape. This long roll was then cut into 20 cm long sections to make bread sticks.

How many garlic-and-butter-covered bread sticks was he able to bake that night?

[prendrelemick]

A pizza is only a short fat bread stick after all so you would think that if you made it a tenth as thick (from 20 to 2) it would be ten times as long (from 1 to 10) But due to the inpenetratable mysteries of maths that doesn't work.

So.. The pizza and the bread stick are really just cylinders of the same volume.

pi x (rxr) x h =v

3.14x100x1=314 (the pizza)

3.14x1x100=314 (the bread stick)

so the bread stick cylinder is 100cm long (h) or 5 x 20 cm lenghs

[billl]

That is correct, sir! Once again, Mick makes short work of a circle puzzle.

[prendrelemick]

Here's one dredged up from memory.


An ill fitting locked door is the only way into the room. There is nothing in the room apart from a small table with the only key to the door on it.

How's that done then?

[MarkBastable]

Here's one dredged up from memory.


An ill fitting locked door is the only way into the room. There is nothing in the room apart from a small table with the only key to the door on it.

How's that done then?


How ill-fitting is it? Is it, like, so ill-fitting that the gap between the door and the jamb is big enough for a portly chap to wander through with the key in his hand? Or just so ill-fitting that he could get his arm through the gap to drop the key on the table? Or so ill-fitting that...well, you can see where I'm going.

'Ill-fitting' is a fuzzy and unqualified thing to tell us - but presumably it matters, otherwise you wouldn't have mentioned it. In order to take a shot at the problem, we need to know what it actually means.

[billl]

Perhaps the other key was destroyed (e.g. melted down) after someone used it to lock the the door, leaving the above-mentioned key in the room on the table.

[prendrelemick]

The ill fitting is significant. There is about half an inch gap at the top and underneath the door. There is and has always been only one key to the door.

[kasie]

Is the length of fine black thread dropped negligently on the floor outside the locked door of any consequence?

[billl]

Or the powerful electromagnet sitting on the table?

EDIT; I mean the electromagnet beyond the wall opposite the door, but it of course doesn't matter...

[prendrelemick]

It most certainly is Kasie (or is that Miss Marple?)

[MarkBastable]

.....well, go on then.

[prendrelemick]

Ok Kasie has probably got it. For the benefit of the others, close examination of the table would reveal a pin prick on its surface.

[MarkBastable]

It's an abseiling key?

[prendrelemick]

You could say that. Just the details to fill in.

[MarkBastable]

Bloke sticks a pin - actually a needle would be better - into the table, attaches a thread to it and walks out of the room, feeding the thread through the gap at the top of the door. He locks the door and slips the key over the thread. The key slides down the thread to the small table. The bloke yanks the pin out and pulls it back through the gap.

I have another version that involves a gymnastic mouse and a drinking straw, but it might be a bit far-fetched.

[prendrelemick]

Correct. One of several locked room scenerios from the murder mystery genre.

[MarkBastable]

Kasie?

[kasie]

Hello, people - I'm back.....

Apologies - I posted that reply and swanned off to London for a few days, little thinking it was the right answer. I remembered reading something like it in a whodunnit years ago (Christie? Conan Doyle?) but can't recollect exactly how it worked though I think Mark has the gist of it.

Will post a puzzle as soon as I've recovered from the trip - all these late nights, I can't keep going like I used to.... Chat among yourselves for a bit unless anyone has something to keep us going until my brain catches up with me, I think it's still changing trains, Bristol or Cardiff, or somewhere...

[kasie]

OK - a day later....

Forgive me if we've had this one before - I know I've seen it somewhere but maybe it's just that the cousin who sent it to me today has sent it some time previously.

What have the following words in common?

1. Banana

2. Dresser

3. Grammar

4. Potato

5. Revive

6. Uneven

7. Assess

There - that should keep you busy for all of, oh, five minutes?

[Annamariah]

If you take away the first letter in each word, they are all palindromes?

[kasie]

You're heading in the right direction, Annamariah - do something with that first letter....

[prendrelemick]

Firstly I reckon Annamaria got it, because without her I wouldn't've noticed that if you put the first letter to the end you can read them backwards.

[kasie]

Well done, Mick and Annamariah - you decide who goes next.

[Annamariah]

I can't think of any puzzle at the moment, so if you've got one, Mick, go ahead :)

[prendrelemick]

Ok then

T'other year I built a circular sheep pen out of concrete blocks. The pen was 10ft in diameter, the walls were 4ft 6inches high. there were 2 x 3ft gaps in the wall for gates. A concrete block when laid (ie including morter) is 18x9x6 inches. How many blocks were needed to complete the pen?

[kasie]

I'll just nip down to Travis Perkins - they have this useful computer programme which works out how many blocks/bricks etc you need to order for your project. It designs patio layouts too doing clever things with different shaped slabs, did me a lovely one last year, printed out a plan as well so that the chaps doing the patio could get the pieces in the right places......Oh, yes, the sheep pen....

[prendrelemick]

Ahh, Travis Perkins the builder's merchant that sounds like a country and western singer.

[billl]

Ok then

T'other year I built a circular sheep pen out of concrete blocks. The pen was 10ft in diameter, the walls were 4ft 6inches high. there were 2 x 3ft gaps in the wall for gates. A concrete block when laid (ie including morter) is 18x9x6 inches. How many blocks were needed to complete the pen?

1 foot = 12 inches (1.5 feet = 18 inches)

circumference= diameter x pi
In this case, we also will subtract out the two gaps (3 feet each)

circumference - gaps = 10pi - 6

the wall will be 9 bricks high (each brick is 6 inches "tall", so 9 of them make 4 feet 6 inches, if we ignore the mortar...). Therefore, we want circumference (minus the gaps) multiplied 9 times.

(10pi - 6) x 9
90pi - 54 = 283-54
229 feet of bricks is needed. Each brick is 1.5 feet "long".
229 divided by 1.5 = 152.7

So, 153 bricks? (17 per layer?)

[prendrelemick]

The bricks are 9inches tall and 6 inches thick. However this is NOT a maths question!





I am prepared to receive plenty of scorn when answer is revealed.

[billl]

One block, ugh.

To "complete" the pen.

And NOW I have to present the next puzzle, grrrrrr. Thought I had escaped got lucky, but... But--uh, well, hmph.

[billl]

This next one is really great fun, very satisfying once the solution is encountered. Perhaps you've heard it? (Actually, I should say "twice"...)


An explorer walks one mile due South, turns and walks one mile due East, turns again and walks one mile due North. And he's right back where he started. He sees a bear. What color is the bear?

[Jack of Hearts]

Trick question. It changes colors. It's a bi-polar bear.






J

[prendrelemick]

He's wearing a yellow and blue kagool.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/3534783/Bear-Grylls-How-are-we-going-to-face-up-to-energy-crisis.html

[billl]

That is a great, great Bear, Mick, but Antarctica doesn't work for the first step of the Puzzle.

(Although Jack is right about the way that a single, pawticular answer would only bearly be scratching the surface of the explanation(s))

[kasie]

Ahh, Travis Perkins the builder's merchant that sounds like a country and western singer.

The speed of their service is much the same as an average c&w mournful ballad too - you need a picnic lunch to while away the waiting time at our local branch.

btw - did you know my psychology lecturer? That's the sort of question he used to pose as an example of 'sett' in thinking: it sounds like a maths question, therefore...

ummm - billl - wouldn't the explorer have to walk a mile due west before he was back where he began? Or did the bear put him off his stride?

What happens to compasses at the North Pole? That's not a trick question, I'm just curious.

[billl]

grrrr...

(kasie, you could probably amp up the scorn just a little more than that "btw" business...)

[kasie]

billl, billl - no scorn intended, I promise....(smoothes ruffled feathers hastily......) And the btw was to Mick, really, about his 'maths' problem, just an aside, not a comment on the quality of the puzzles set in this remarkable thread. Who am I to talk? Who left her brain on the 12.45 from Paddington and took a day to be reunited with it? (It got on the slow stopping train at Newport and sat on the station till I came to collect it, it's taking a while to get warm again.)

[billl]

@kasie: Oh, yes, I totally was referring to the scorn that Mick had so brazenly (but disingenuously?) predicted would be raining down on him. *That's* what I was hoping for more of, with no other suspicions present. I was totally focussed on that.

[billl]

ummm - billl - wouldn't the explorer have to walk a mile due west before he was back where he began? Or did the bear put him off his stride?

What happens to compasses at the North Pole? That's not a trick question, I'm just curious.

Just now noticed this portion of your post, Kasie. Good question about the North Pole! That's, of course, a starting point that would probably indicate a bear that was white in color. And there's our answer. Polar bear.

I don't know what would happen to a compass 'up' there, but I guess the puzzle assumes no problems, or GPS or star-navigation, if there's any problem with the compass.

OK, so that's a pretty cool puzzle, and it has baffled, amused, and caused surges of pride in people for ages--but it was brought to the attention of Scientific American's Martin Gardner that the the North Pole is not at all the only starting point that would qualify as a solution to this classic puzzle.

If any of you already know (knew) the answer to "Where else?", I'd suggest we give some of the regulars on this thread some time to think it over, and see if they can come up with it...

[billl]

To reiterate where we are (because all of that might look confusing), we have the classic:


An explorer walks one mile due South, turns and walks one mile due East, turns again and walks one mile due North. And he's right back where he started. He sees a bear. What color is the bear?

along with the classic answer: "White". This is because the explorer would be at the North Pole, becasue if one begins at the North Pole and follows the marching directions, one ends up back where one started (the North Pole).

However, The North Pole is not the only possible starting point that would bring the explorer back to where he started, given the above directions (one mile South, one mile East, one mile North). Where else would it happen?

[MarkBastable]

To reiterate where we are (because all of that might look confusing), we have the classic:



along with the classic answer: "White". This is because the explorer would be at the North Pole, becasue if one begins at the North Pole and follows the marching directions, one ends up back where one started (the North Pole).

However, The North Pole is not the only possible starting point that would bring the explorer back to where he started, given the above directions (one mile South, one mile East, one mile North). Where else would it happen?


Any point on the equator?

No - hang on. I'm halfway through a thought....

This has to do witha halfmile radius around the South Pole. If I hadnt just drunk two bottles of Pinot Grigio, I'd have this...

Mick? Kasie?

[billl]

Yes, one of you, please carry Mark across the finish line!

[kasie]

Couldn't you start anywhere, walk a mile north, then a mile east, then one south, then one west and be back where you started? You would have walked a square though I suppose you'd have to be north of the Arctic Circle or somewhere near a zoo to see a polar bear.

Didn't save me any of that Pinot Grigio, I see, Mark.

[prendrelemick]

I think I know what Mark was getting at before the wine kicked in.

You would have to walk south to a point near the south pole so that when you turn east and walk exactly one mile, you have circumnavigated the pole and ended up at the same place where you turned east. Then you walk north for one mile and you are back where you started from.

[billl]

Ah, yes--Mick and the circles. That's right. Start at (1 + 1.5 Pi) miles North of the South Pole--the latitudinal circle that is 1.5 Pi miles North of the South Pole has a one mile circumference. (It also turns out that a 1/2 mile circumference circle, or a 1/4 mile cirle, etc. would also work.)

Anyhow, the Bear Grylls photo was a pretty good answer, really.

[prendrelemick]

Thanks billl - and Mark for his wine fuelled inspiration.

On a lighter note, here are some bazaar headlines with a word taken out by me. You have to guess the missing word.

NATIONAL HUNTING GROUP TARGETING women
STOLEN PAINTINGS FOUND BY tree
U.S. ADVICE. KEEP drinking WATER FROM SEWAGE
LOW wages ARE KEY TO POVERTY
**** OFF WOMAN'S LEG HELPS NICKLAUS TO 66
chilbirth IS BIG STEP TO PARENTHOOD
POLICE KILL YOUTH IN EFFORT TO STOP HIS suicide ATTEMPT
YOUTH HIT BY CAR riding BICYCLE
FIRE OFFICIALS ******* OVER KEROSENE HEATERS.

[Jack of Hearts]

Some guesses:

National Hunting Group Targeting Rifle

U.S. Advice: Keep Drinking Water From Sewage

Intercourse Is Big Step To Parenthood

Police Kill Youth In Effort To Stop His Suicide Attempt

Youth Hit By Car Riding Bicycle

[prendrelemick]

Not bad J, three right and two wrong.

[Jack of Hearts]

Low hanging fruit stains these cheeks.







J

[billl]

NATIONAL HUNTING GROUP TARGETING press

LOW wages ARE KEY TO POVERTY

chip OFF WOMAN'S LEG HELPS NICKLAUS TO 66

conception IS BIG STEP TO PARENTHOOD

FIRE OFFICIALS enraged OVER KEROSENE HEATERS.

[prendrelemick]

One right bill. You need to get even stranger.

[prendrelemick]

Low hanging fruit stains these cheeks.







J



Which cheeks?

[Jack of Hearts]

Well, given enough time, all of them.








J

[billl]

ball OFF WOMAN'S LEG HELPS NICKLAUS TO 66

motherhood IS BIG STEP TO PARENTHOOD


(these are tough, both of these are probably duds)

[MarkBastable]

Youth hit by car impersonating bicycle.

[prendrelemick]

Thanks billl - and Mark for his wine fuelled inspiration.

On a lighter note, here are some bazaar headlines with a word taken out by me. You have to guess the missing word.

NATIONAL HUNTING GROUP TARGETING *****. obviously, they're all misogynists .
STOLEN PAINTINGS FOUND BY **** .Cherry, for instance
U.S. ADVICE. KEEP drinking WATER FROM SEWAGE
LOW wages ARE KEY TO POVERTY
**** OFF WOMAN'S LEG HELPS NICKLAUS TO 66. was the leg attached to the woman?
********** IS BIG STEP TO PARENTHOOD . between conception and motherhood
POLICE KILL YOUTH IN EFFORT TO STOP HIS suicide ATTEMPT
YOUTH HIT BY CAR riding BICYCLE
FIRE OFFICIALS ******* OVER KEROSENE HEATERS. A culinary practice

A few clues there.

[billl]

"pregnancy" doesn't have enough letters to match up with the asterisks...

[prendrelemick]

Hmm, alot nearer to motherhood than conception, infact overlapping slightly.

[Jack of Hearts]

Stolen Paintings Found by (either pies/tree?)

Cuts Off Woman's Leg Helps Nicklaus to 66 (... not gramatically correct, though)

Copulation Is Big Step Toward Parenthood

National Hunting Group Targeting Women

Fire Officials Flamber Over Kerosene Heaters (flamber, as in the regular '-er' french verb whose past participle is flambé? Or the english word flaming, this reader's only other guess...)

[billl]

FIRE OFFICIALS steamed OVER KEROSENE HEATERS.

[Jack of Hearts]

Nice, billl.








J

[billl]

I don't think it's a sure thing. Looks like a natural, but I have trouble imagining fire officials getting angry (steamed) about the particular way people heat their homes. I can imagine them telling families to take precautions. I can see them going to the government or the press to talk about the dangers of kerosene heaters, the use of which creates problems that they will inevitably have to deal with in their brave and stoic way. Exasperated, maybe, but angry? The'd have every right to be angry, but it just doesn't seem like a firefighter's style.

[Jack of Hearts]

Sometimes you have to error a little on the side of bad punditry.

Childbirth Is Big Step Into Parenthood? (last guess, promise... multiple guesses seem like bad form. Egads, embarrassing enthusiasm.)






J

[prendrelemick]

Jack: What do you mean "a little"! You have to rush over and embrace it here.

billl: Steamed should've been right, but aint. The word used has an implied criticism of the Firemen! Which is unusual, I know.


We're creeping towards the finish line. Childbirth, Women and Tree are right. Still to get are the poor woman's traumatised leg and the hostile questioning of the Fire Officials .

[Jack of Hearts]

Are the firemen boiling? No idea about the leg one though. Somebody else give it a shot.


Fire Officials Boiling Over Kerosene Heaters??






J

[prendrelemick]

Are the firemen boiling? No idea about the leg one though. Somebody else give it a shot.


Fire Officials Boiling Over Kerosene Heaters??






J


You're kidding about the leg, right? - give it a "shot"- Correct!

Well that's every cooking method mentioned except the one they used. Its a mindset thing, we,re so used to Firemen being rightous and heroic we can't see them on the receiving end of a culinary process.

[billl]

shot OFF WOMAN'S LEG?

Maybe he then used it as a putter?

[Jack of Hearts]

Umm...








J

[Jack of Hearts]

No, the 'shot' comment was not a guess.


Were the fire officials roasted? Giving up on the fire officials after this. Hopefully they don't return the favor.


Things you cannot do to a fire official;

You can't steam them.

You can't boil them.

Tu ne peux pas les flamber.

You can't enrage them.





J

[billl]

No, the 'shot' comment was not a guess.


I can't say for sure whether reading it influenced me or not, but there it is/was. Anyhow, it's out there formally now, so no one else can come in second place. Let's see if it wins.

And I had already ruled out 'roasted' after 'steamed' met failure. If Gilbert Godfried isn't explicitly mentioned, then...

[prendrelemick]

Shot and Roasted are correct

So that's that, your go Jack.

[billl]

Well that's a rather quick resolution of some foolishness on my part.

[Jack of Hearts]

... Well it appears overzealousness has come full circle with the boot. Working on it as we speak but cannot guarantee quality.



Also, would not be offended if anyone else took this turn, if they have anything.







J

[Jack of Hearts]

LitNet User Scavenger Hunt Puzzle Thing





All users are currently active. All are substantially visible on the forum and all post in at least one of the major forums. Discover them from their 'Custom User Title ' (the little tagline above the avatar), which is given below.

There is a number next to every 'Custom User Title'. The corresponding letter in the discovered username (NOT counting spaces as letters) is part of a word or phrase you'll have to unscramble at the end.

Ex. You have discovered that 'Bob Frapples' is a username that is an answer. Next to his clue/tagline is the number 4. The fourth letter in 'Bob Frapples' (don't count the space) is 'f', so 'f' goes to the letter bank to be unscrambled into a phrase when all the other answers have been found.


'Custom User Titles'/ Clues

1. Artist and Bibliophile (4) stlukesguild

2. All Are At the Crossroads (8) qimissung

3. An organized mess (5) everyadventure

4. Orwellian (8) The Atheist

5. The Yodfather (9) stanislaw

6. Dance Magic Dance (1) OrphanPip

You Win.

If you discover the user, let them know that they were not only part of the scavenger hunt, but that you've claimed them as property.



Soundly Solved by billl on 8/7/11.

[billl]

Answer = "You win."


everyadvent 5 y
stlukes 4u ?
stanislaw 9w
the atheist 8i
qimissung 8n

(I still haven't found who the 'o' comes from, though)

[Jack of Hearts]

Well, that probably took longer to make up than it took you to solve it. Hope you liked it, or at least found it a little amusing.

Well done, billl. That's your turn.







J

[billl]

It was a nice change of pace, but my internet connection was a little cranky, and that turned maybe 3 minutes into maybe 10 minutes, a fact that dampened the enjoyment of those 10 minutes.

I'm not ready with anything myself, so I'll open the floor to others, but will eventually come up with something failing any intervention.

[Jack of Hearts]

Motion to rename the thread "Almost Daily puzzles/problems."








J

[billl]

Here's one I've been reluctant to put out there, but what the heck?

Driving carefully on a frozen Alaskan road--but also eating junk food and drinking soda while chewing gum--I accidentally just dropped a delicious cheddar "goldfish" into my tall, slender, ice-cold bottle of Pepsi™ (the only drink in the car). Naturally, I have pulled over to the side of the road, wanting to deal with this problem.

I have a toothpick that is two inches long, and I can hold it by just a half-inch at the end, so that it extends my reach into the top of the bottle by one and a half inches. Unfortunately, I have already drunk some of the Pepsi, and the goldfish is floating almost two inches beyond the bottle's screw-top opening.

What can I do to retrieve the goldfish?

[Jack of Hearts]

Put ice/snow into the bottle until the liquid is displaced enough to use the toothpick to 'fish' the 'fish' out?









J

[billl]

That's more succinct than my solution (stick the bottle outside for a while, until the Pepsi freezes, the ice expanding enough to raise the goldfish to a point where the toothpick can easily reach it, but the fish would probably be stuck in the ice and the toothpick would just dig at it and carve a hole, and so some smallish amount of the chewing gum would then be stuck to the end of the toothpick so that it could be mashed against the goldfish embedded at the top of the frozen Pespi. Bringing the bottle back into the heated compartment of the vehicle and maintaining a grip on the toothpick, the gradually thawing pepsi would eventually allow the gum-stuck goldfish to be pulled out of the bottle. Well, maybe--I haven't actually tested a lot of these elements, in particular the stickiness of a gum/goldfish-cracker bond in a freezing environment.)

Back to you.

[Jack of Hearts]

... Your solution is better.









J

[Jack of Hearts]

The billl Chatting Up Women Puzzle Thing


Our hero, billl, is at a classy cocktail establishment circa 1974. As he’s putting the Aqua Velva back into his smoking jacket and reaching for his pipe, two beautiful women, identical twins, approach him. As a matter of fact, they’re Bond girls (but not the transsexual one that Roger Moore chokes in For Your Eyes Only). Each of them offer him a fine scotch-whiskey, identical in appearance. Except one of these beverages is loaded with a laxative.


One of the girls always tells the truth. One of the girls always lies. He doesn't know which. How can billl entertain the company of these ladies and discern which drink is not poisoned?



Superlatively Shamed by MarkBastable on 8/7/11.

[MarkBastable]

Actually, we did this one a while back (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?p=968694&highlight=mummies#post968694)(though, admittedly, not with Bill in the lead role.)

[Jack of Hearts]

Whoops. Have looked through these but not that closely.

Ok, MarkBastable, have a go then?







J

[prendrelemick]

Well, that probably took longer to make up than it took you to solve it. Hope you liked it, or at least found it a little amusing.

Well done, billl. That's your turn.







J

That was a good one, I didn't have time to look at it till this morning. Too late, too late.

Same with the coke bottle thing and the Bond girls one, though billl would soon have them both eating out of his hand, the silver tongued divil

[Jack of Hearts]

Thanks Mick. Going to start writing some goofy puzzles for fun now (it's summer before college and a full time job for another six weeks or so...).

Hopefully it'll be entertaining with a lovely rind of clever...






J

[MarkBastable]

To the title of which Kurt Vonnegut novel might the following lead you?

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Four Quartets
Mr Balcony
Necronomicon
One Way Pendulum
The Cop and the Anthem
The Coral Island
The Gift of the Magi
The Great Gatsby
The Meaning of Meaning
The Waste Land
The House at Pooh Corner
Tulips and Chimneys

[Jack of Hearts]

SPOILER ALERT FOR "CAT'S CRADLE"


Didn't really like Vonnegut, and it's been about four years since having read it... so this is probably a bad guess, but Cat's Cradle? And here's why (this reader cannot make all the clues fit, but an interesting amount anyway):

The scene where the novel affiliates with its title is on a balcony.

Cat's Cradle is a children's string game and pendulum is part of the sequence.

In the novel, the narrator visits tropical locales (Coral Island).

The entire work had the undertones of the examination of meaning (aren't the final pages when the narrator encounters the Siddharta-like teacher... it's been so long)?

The Waste Land because the island that narrator visits is destroyed and he encounters the aforementioned teacher in the ruins of it?

Necronomicon, or some ancient deadly artifact, seems oddly pertinent (major plot point?) but it's just out of reach of memory. Having read most of Vonnegut's work at once really blended the material together. And the whole experience was like taking bad medicine anyway.

No real idea, but it was fun guessing.

Also, if the guess was correct but the rationale completely off, let's just call it wrong so we can appreciate the real solution if others can get it (no points for random luck).






J

[billl]

With italics and bolding, I think I've shown how Deadeye Dick is a tantalizing candidate, particularly if we are ready to stretch things a bit here and there, going on my decades-old memory of the book:

**SPOILERS for the novel, Deadeye Dick SPOILERS**

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? -- by Phlip K. Dick
Four Quartets -- Dick kills someone inside of someone he kills (mother and foetus), much as four is embedded in quartets or something...
Mr Balcony -- strange name for a person, maybe a nickname?
Necronomicon -- Necro = dead
One Way Pendulum
The Cop and the Anthem -- Dick = detective
The Coral Island -- Haiti is an island
The Gift of the Magi -- an unlucky gift. i.e. his shooting ability
The Great Gatsby
The Meaning of Meaning -- in a meta sort of way, I think part of the protagonist's story turns into scripts that he has written or something
The Waste Land -- neutron bomb
The House at Pooh Corner
Tulips and Chimneys

Finally, in regards to the last two clues, I can't remember how the bullet got to its victim(s), but maybe it involved a window (Pooh stuck in the window?) or a chimney...?

[MarkBastable]

Er, no - though it pains me to say so, given the ingenuity of your response, and Jack's too.

You don't need to know anything about the novel in question to get to the answer.



With italics and bolding, I think I've shown how Deadeye Dick is a tantalizing candidate, particularly if we are ready to stretch things a bit here and there, going on my decades-old memory of the book:

**SPOILERS for the novel, Deadeye Dick SPOILERS**

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? -- by Phlip K. Dick
Four Quartets -- Dick kills someone inside of someone he kills (mother and foetus), much as four is embedded in quartets or something...
Mr Balcony -- strange name for a person, maybe a nickname?
Necronomicon -- Necro = dead
One Way Pendulum
The Cop and the Anthem -- Dick = detective
The Coral Island -- Haiti is an island
The Gift of the Magi -- an unlucky gift. i.e. his shooting ability
The Great Gatsby
The Meaning of Meaning -- in a meta sort of way, I think part of the protagonist's story turns into scripts that he has written or something
The Waste Land -- neutron bomb
The House at Pooh Corner
Tulips and Chimneys

Finally, in regards to the last two clues, I can't remember how the bullet got to its victim(s), but maybe it involved a window (Pooh stuck in the window?) or a chimney...?

[prendrelemick]

At the moment its a case of "pearls before swine."

[Jack of Hearts]

Yeah. This one's a toughie.









J

[billl]

I might be on the verge of solving this (or at least feel closer than in my first guess, which was, despite my initial enthusiasm, sort of a B.S. attempt).

[Jack of Hearts]

It was funny, though.


It's up to you guys. No idea here.









J

[billl]

Well, I just spent a lot of time on something that didn't work out.

@Mark, Here's a question to put my mind at ease, though: Many of Vonnegut's titles have "extended versions", and so, for example, do we need to consider "Slaughterhouse-Five" as being possibly also known as "Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death"? Or should we just be looking at the titles we'd typically see on the front cover in largest print (e.g. "Slapstick", "Slaughterhouse-Five")?

[Scheherazade]

To the title of which Kurt Vonnegut novel might the following lead you?

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Four Quartets
Mr Balcony
Necronomicon
One Way Pendulum
The Cop and the Anthem
The Coral Island
The Gift of the Magi
The Great Gatsby
The Meaning of Meaning
The Waste Land
The House at Pooh Corner
Tulips and ChimneysYou have given the titles in alphabetical order (taking "the" into account as well)... Are we supposed to rearrange them or their authors (the initial letters of their names, for example) some how to get to the answer?

[billl]

Um,

My crazy theory I was working on has me thinking that the answer might be "Deadeye Dick", because of this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Deadeye,_or_Duty_Done

an animated cartoon based on (best I can tell) a character from Gilbert & Sullivan's musicals (that would be W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan), in particular the musical called H.M.S. Pinafore.

[MarkBastable]

You have given the titles in alphabetical order (taking "the" into account as well)... Are we supposed to rearrange them or their authors (the initial letters of their names, for example) some how to get to the answer?

Along the right lines. The authors of the listed works have something in common.

[Jack of Hearts]

They all have at least one initial in their nom de plume, well at least the ones that this reader knows... (A.A. Milne, T.S. Elliot, Phillip K. Dick, etc.).







J

[billl]

I was thinking that the librettist W.S. Gilbert might be the missing member of such a list, his inclusion providing a link to the Vonnegut novel Deadeye Dick via the character 'Dick Deadeye' from H.M.S. Pinafore...

Originally, I was looking for other authors who shared book titles with titles of Vonnegut books, hoping that one would have initials in his/her name, but this was as close as I got (besides the obscure mystery writer Jo A. Hiestand, author of "Pearls Before Swine (http://www.amazon.com/Pearls-Before-Swine-Jo-Hiestand/dp/1591331781/ref=sr_1_25?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313010581&sr=1-25)")

[prendrelemick]

They all have at least one initial in their nom de plume, well at least the ones that this reader knows... (A.A. Milne, T.S. Elliot, Phillip K. Dick, etc.).







J


I was looking at that, but there are some exceptions - O Henry and Hillary Putnam.

[MarkBastable]

I was looking at that, but there are some exceptions - O Henry and Hillary Putnam.


It was during these New Orleans days that I adopted my pen name of O. Henry. I said to a friend: "I'm going to send out some stuff. I don't know if it amounts to much, so I want to get a literary alias. Help me pick out a good one." He suggested that we get a newspaper and pick a name from the first list of notables that we found in it. In the society columns we found the account of a fashionable ball. "Here we have our notables," said he. We looked down the list and my eye lighted on the name Henry, "That'll do for a last name," said I. "Now for a first name. I want something short. None of your three-syllable names for me." "Why don’t you use a plain initial letter, then?" asked my friend. "Good," said I, "O is about the easiest letter written, and O it is."


I've never heard of Hilary Puttnam.

[Jack of Hearts]

That's either a huge clue or a cruel misdirect.







J

[billl]

There is another author who has written a book called The Meaning of Meaning: W. Terrence Gordon (although a C. K. Ogden is also in the mix for that one, maybe as a fictional author or something?).

[billl]

Is there perhaps an Irish translation of his second novel, titled The Sirens O' Titan?

[MarkBastable]

There is another author who has written a book called The Meaning of Meaning: W. Terrence Gordon (although a C. K. Ogden is also in the mix for that one, maybe as a fictional author or something?).

That is the most difficult one, so I'll give it to you: I was thinking of this guy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I._A._Richards). Frankly, I didn't know about him until I started researching in order to construct this problem, as a component of which he qualified precisely.

[prendrelemick]

That's the fourth name in connection with that title

[Jack of Hearts]

Going to guess that if you unscramble all of the initials in the authors' names you will have letters sufficient to produce:

Breakfast of Champions or Goodbye Blue Monday

- but it seems where this reader has just arrived, Scher has already sat down, had a coke and a hamburger, and come back twice.


Not sure if there was a method to the 'unscrambling', just happened to see 'breakfast' in all the alphabet soup, for starters.




J

[MarkBastable]

Yep - the initials in the authors' names are the component letters of The Breakfast of Champions. Scheh gave the method, if not the answer, several posts back.


Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? ..........Philip K Dick.......... k
Four Quartets..........
TS Eliot.......... t s
Mr Balcony..........
CHB Kitchin.......... c h b
Necronomicon ..........
HP Lovecraft.......... h p
One Way Pendulum ..........
NF Simpson.......... n f
The Cop and the Anthem..........
O Henry.......... o
The Coral Island..........
R M Ballantyne .......... r m
The Gift of the Magi..........
O Henry.......... o
The Great Gatsby..........
F Scott Fitzgerald.......... f
The Meaning of Meaning..........
..........IA Richards....... i a
The Waste Land..........
TS Eliot.......... t s
The House at Pooh Corner..........
AA milne.......... a a
Tulips and Chimneys..........
EE Cummings.......... e e

[Jack of Hearts]

Good one, Mark.








J

[Jack of Hearts]

The Art History Two-Step Puzzle Thing

Use these overly ambiguous clues to do the 'Art History Two-Step' and discover the name of Jack of Hearts' favorite artist. We'll show you the steps!



Two to the right:
Cool! (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/album.php?albumid=1162&pictureid=9062)

Four to the left:
Wow! (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/album.php?albumid=1162&pictureid=9064)


Cha-cha-cha!


Six to the right:
Amazing! (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/album.php?albumid=1162&pictureid=9063)

Twenty-two to the left:
Neat! (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/album.php?albumid=1162&pictureid=9065)


Cha-cha-cha!


Nine to the right:
Fun! (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/album.php?albumid=1162&pictureid=9061)


Cha!




Positively Pulverized by MarkBastable on 8/15/2011

[prendrelemick]

This is puzzleing on a whole new level.

By following the steps I ended up on the Gauguin.

But need to check a few things first, like where to start and is there another layer to unravel like, initials of artists.

[Jack of Hearts]

You're a natural Mick, we just need to get a good pace going.

A good place to start is to know exactly what you're looking at. Once you figure that out, it seems each of the five steps will somehow contribute to the greater whole.

And when they do, you'll already know that you shouldn't count spaces. No, never when dancing.





J

[MarkBastable]

Ernst?


(I'm pushed for time so I'm suggesting this without having finished the sleuthing.)

[Jack of Hearts]

While that's an incorrect conclusion, your method may be sound. If you post your sleuthing we can see what's correct and start putting this sick animal of a puzzle out to pasture.







J

[MarkBastable]

Without looking up the names of the paintings, and just going on those I know, I'd say we need an artist whose name is E*h**.

Or, strictly speaking, É*h**.


However, I may be a long way up an erroneous tree.

[Jack of Hearts]

Tell how you've acquired É with accent aigu?

Other than that your ingenuity is applauded so far...





J

[billl]

Taking the painters' full names (well, their first and last names, anyhow) as being circles of letters in which the last letter wraps to the beginning, and then beginning at the "space" between the first and last letter and following the directions for the name of the painter of each linked painting, I, well, I thought the last painting was a Goya, and it doesn't seem to be, and I can't be sure who painted the fourth one. But I did get this:

1. a
2. u
3. d
4.
5.

Which leads me to speculate that the poet Jack of Hearts might be a fan of Auden.

[Jack of Hearts]

billl, swing and a miss. If we were playing the children's game of hot and cold you'd be very warm. Between your guess and Mark's (who would be burning up right now) this puzzle is in its death throes (but it has a few fingernails dug in yet).

Maybe you ought to review the clue left in response to Mick's contribution?





J

[MarkBastable]

Well, I was working on the principle that it was a question of counting from one end or the other of the titles of the paintings (from the first of which I originally forgot the 'le').

However, that'd give the answer:


1. Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe
2. D'ou Venons Nous, Que Sommes Nous, Ou Allons Nous
3. Nighthawks
4. Peasant Girl with Yellow Straw Hat (aka Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat, but one could argue that I really ought to find out what it’s called in Dutch.)
5. Allégorie Réelle: intérieur de mon atelier, déterminant une phase de sept années de ma vie artistique


....which doesn't make a lot of sense. However, if I've got the titles of the paintings right, this might be a help to someone else.

[prendrelemick]

Thoughts so far.-

I have the Artists and the pictures - though there are different versions of the titles.

Got excited looking at 'The PICnic' thinking it would lead to PICasso, or a food related Munch. But it's all a bit tenuous so far.


I reckon this is clinging on by more than fingertips

[Jack of Hearts]

MarkBastable deftly puts a stake in the heart of the thing! The beast has only one little fingernail left. So we have...

Two to the right:
->
Le déjeuner sur l'herbe
(Manet)

Four to the left:
<-
D'où Venons Nous / Que Sommes Nous / Où Allons Nous
(Gauguin)

Six to the right:
->
Nighthawks
(Hopper)

Twenty-two to the left:
<-
Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat
(van Gogh)

Nine to the right:
->
L'Atelier du peintre, Allégorie réelle déterminant une phase de sept années de ma vie artistique et morale
(Courbet)

Gives:

e n h i r


... Which unscrambles into the name of what pre-eminent artist from the American Ashcan school?

Robert Henri

[Jack of Hearts]

Mick, you get ten thousand points for your Munch comment. Alas, if it were a better puzzle...







J

[MarkBastable]

Please, sir, is it Henri, sir?

[Jack of Hearts]

Robert Henri! Very good work Mark. Everybody did great with what was probably not a very good puzzle. But hopefully we had a little fun and looked at some cool pictures, at least.


Your turn.





J

[MarkBastable]

Put the following in order:



Village Chrome Betty Eric Ultra Turbulent William

[kasie]

Eric (the Red)
William (of Orange)
Chrome (Yellow)
Village (Green)
Betty (Blue)
Turbulent (Indigo)
Ultra (Violet)


I admit to Googling Turbulent..... and Betty......to check.....

[MarkBastable]

Sorry - much too easy. I should have laid another layer of deduction over it.

Off you go, k.

[kasie]

Will I never learn?

OK, I 'll get thinking.....


Sorry, people, I'm going to be rather more involved than I thought over the next couple of days, so if anyone has a puzzle they would like to present, please go ahead and I'll put one in when this unexpected 'crisis' is over..... thanks.

[MarkBastable]

What goes blue-red-yellow-blue-green-red?

[Jack of Hearts]

Aunt Gertie's holiday sweaters. Her mind has gone but, bless her heart, she still tries to knit.







J

[MarkBastable]

This wouldn't be a difficult one to look up on the Web, but, as ever, that would be contrary to the spirit of the thing....

[Calidore]

What goes blue-red-yellow-blue-green-red?

Let's see: A smurf falls and hurts himself, but bandages the wound badly, and it becomes infected. Fearful of doctors, he paints the injury blue to hide it, but gangrene sets in, necessitating amputation.

[prendrelemick]

Let's see: A smurf falls and hurts himself, but bandages the wound badly, and it becomes infected. Fearful of doctors, he paints the injury blue to hide it, but gangrene sets in, necessitating amputation.

word perfect if you ask me.

I was thinking of using an AA map to plan a journey, from Moterway to A road to B road back to Moterway on to a Major Route then on to an A road again.

[MarkBastable]

Until October 1998 it was green-red-yellow-blue-green-red.

From November 1998 to July 1999, it was blue-red-yellow-blue-green-red-blue, but it must have been decided that the final blue added nothing - not even a sense of urgency or surprise.

This, incidentally, is not the first clue I've given.

[prendrelemick]

Thought of-
Colours of UK tax discs?
Colours of those fasteners on loaves of bread that tell you when they were baked?

But realising what the clue was - The Google colours?

[MarkBastable]

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ySCIT3KO9Zc/SJR0I0c5tfI/AAAAAAAAJts/swIiebJRZQI/s400/logo-google.jpg

[prendrelemick]

Now I thought this was really good, but it turns out everyone I tell it to has heard it before. Nevertheless, here goes, a bit of lateral thinking needed.


A man is driving through a winter storm in his nice warm car. Up ahead at a bus stop, he sees his best friend, the girl of his dreams, and an old lady suffering from hyperthermia. He can't give them all a lift because his car is only a two seater. What does he do? What would you do? Give explanations.

[Jack of Hearts]

Have his mate drive the old lady to the hospital while he gets out and uses the old 'body heat' bit on the girl of his dreams? Classic!







J

[jajdude]

Have heard that one before. Guess the storm can't be too bad if people are out in it, and that a bus will be along soon. A good day for the driver, he gets to help the old lady, with help from his friend, and meet the girl of his dreams. If the storm is bad now though and no bus shows up, guess he can wait for his friend to return...

[Jack of Hearts]

Wait, is that the real answer? This reader was just making up something goofy. These open ended riddles are like the SAT essay prompts.







J

[billl]

It's too late now, but I would've probably just driven the old woman to the hospital, in reality. In Riddle World, I probably would've popped the hood and stood around the engine block with my friend, leaving the women inside until the bus came, knowing full well that our freezing feet would be marring the solution.

However, if it really were a good friend (and if I knew he would be a good driver in that sort of weather, using my car), and if "girl of my dreams" meant I really had to impress her but would most likely be rewarded for it (as opposed to her being some married Hollywood celebrity, etc.), I think there's a chance I would've come up with Jack's plan as well, if the situation were there before me, fully real. Too late though, sort of cheap to say that, I know.

[prendrelemick]

Yes, the aptly named Jack of Hearts leapt straight to the best solution. He gets the girl and the next question

[Jack of Hearts]

Didn't mean to win and don't have anything. Consider it open floor unless you want another fruity, awkwardly designed puzzle, which will come only in the presence of deafening silence.







J

[jajdude]

A man commits a crime and is sent before the king. The king says, "Make a statement. If it is true I will feed you to the lions. If it is false you will be trampled by wild buffalo." How does he save his life?

[MarkBastable]

This is going to be a self-referential one, isn't it?

"I will be trampled by wild buffalo."

[jajdude]

Fire away...

[MarkBastable]

Dead easy, this one, but fun...

There’s no such thing as a universally successful novel. Any work of fiction, however highly regarded, however solemnly revered, will evoke a negative response in some quarters. We all have a right to our opinions, of course, and Amazon gives a platform to the legions of the appalled, the disappointed and the indignant.

So – the idea here is to identify the well-known bestseller under review. The text of the critiques, though trimmed a little, is presented largely unedited and unprocessed, in order to preserve the full spluttering outrage of the contributors.

(The fourth one is just about my favourite critique of any book, ever.)


Qu’est-ce que c’est? Fa-fa-fa-fa….

I cannot believe how bad this book is, and I am only on page 94! It is a pointless, rambling piece of garbage. The movie moved along at a good pace and…was funny, depraved, interesting and horrorfic. The book just rambles along. If you want something that gives ou information on name-brand clothes, restaurants, perfumes, colognes and hair gels and interesting places to visit, this is the book for you. Go see the movie.

Oh my America, my….

After listening through half of the first audiocassette of this atrocious assemblage of adjectives, I hastened to the Amazon.com site to read what others had to say. I was so glad to see that there are others who agree with me that this book is so poorly written as to be unintelligible. After having to rewind the tape and listen over and over to seven or eight passages in the first twenty minutes, I just gave up. I still have no idea what she was trying to say. Believe me, Goethe she's not. And by the way, I get it. He has a weird chin. Get over it.


Not all moloko and cookies

The biggest problem that I felt it had was that if the same content would have been written by another author, it would have been called pornogrophy but because it was by <this author> it is called classic literature. Beating helpless people, raping women, and drinking some kind of spiked milk should not be something that is glamorized, but it should be something hidden with the rest of the works such as this trash.

The Classic American Breakfast

The "hero" of this tale spends the entirety of the book trying to force <something> upon a nameless skeptic. The "villain" turns down the offer several times, but the hero refuses to respect the man's right to say no, and badgers him incessantly until he caves under the pressure.

What disgusts me most about the end of the story is that once the man gives in, he is simply another addition to a pool of addicts. The author's tragic allegory for the rising drug use among young people that plagued his time period is brilliant, but certainly not appropriate for young children. <The main character> is too easily twisted to become a hero, opening the antagonist's mind to new things, rather than a metaphor for Satan as I believe was originally intended.

Gin a body meet a body

I never heard of this book before our daughter said she had to read it for high school English. As soon as the teacher started reading it in class our daughter said it was dumb, she wanted out of English class ,I want to quit school, and why do I have to listen to my teacher read all this foul language including the F word repeatedly. We said you don't and pulled her from the class. Christian or not if you have any moral compass at all <this> is a book to avoid. It talks about and seems to condone all sorts of sin,including prostitution. drunkeness, lying,blasphemy, and fornication. The Bible says whatsoever things are honest, true, just , pure, lovely, and of good report, if there be any virtue, think on these things . You can't think on these things reading "goddamn "245 times in a 200+ page book. Beware Parents. This book is filth ,pure and simple

...and where it’s going, no one knows.

I have to say, with all due respects to the author, this is the WORST book I have ever read in my life. It is disjointed and hops all over the place. There's no continuity at all. The prose is terrible. The back cover says it is funny without laughing, splendid art, a book without tears. Wrong! I am actually crying: that I paid so much money for this. I gritted my teeth to finish reading this book.

I guess I am not cerebral enough (or maybe too cerebral) because I--do--not--get--this--novel. I am always admirous of writers and wish to praise them for their efforts when I like the book, but I couldn't here. I gave it what I think it deserved. (And why does he keep saying 'so it goes' all the time. Geez, that phrase is just annoying me now. That phrase would be okay if it was used once or sparsely. But over and over again!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Save your money and buy something else!

Squeak, piggy, squeak

My daughter brought this home because her teacher forced this book on the class. I read it figuring it must be good. What a wrong impression!

Some English boys get trapped on an island where they become increasingly uncivilized and mentally sick. Some of the boys are murdered in group rituals and eaten. The unnessary violence in this book is a disgrace. Many people live without modern conveniences and do not exhibit this behavior. This book is not about the dark side of human nature - it is about one English teacher's sick mind.

The writing is overdone. The author must've made it his goal to use as many words as he could as symbolically as possible to portray his sick and violent fantasies. This is the worst writing I've ever laid my eyes on.


The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism

I truly believe that <the author’s> sole purpose for writing this novel was to encourage anarchy, and to convince his readers to be subordinate to authority. Though society and government are not perfect, they are not as evil and as oppressive as <he> made them out to be. He creates a negative Utopia in hopes to make people hate their leaders and to disagree with any form of government. It is because of people like <him> that our nation, as well as other nations, are so dramatically torn by the opinions of citizens towards their leaders, and their leader's decisions. Also, at the end of this novel, <the author> leaves readers with a sense of hopelessness, by allowing his main character to be manipulated, tortured, and brainwashed into following what <he> inderectly refers to as government. Let's try to be a little more optomistic, and work on a happier ending, shall we?

‘Clueless’ is about right

Best I can figure this…woman stoll the plot of Clueless and rote a book. Too many coincidences to make me believe anything else. Why Alecia Sivlerstone doesn't sue <the author> is beyond me!

Like The Omen with sprinkles

This book paints a very negative picture of children. With the exception of the main character, all of the children are bad and are punished in cruel ways for their faults. Are most children fundementally bad and deserving terrible punishment, at the moment they least expect it? This book suggests it (especially to a child who might be reading it and cannot understand what "social commentary" is yet). This book fits right in with the Omen and Rosemary's Baby. It is a child-exploitation story. I recommend this book to adults who do not like children.

Scooby Doo it’s not

I cannot expreess how Malignant this book is. The amount of dogs that die in this book is two numerous to place in this review.Spme dogs are ripped apart and eaten by other dogs.Another dogs has both his legs broken and the dogs eat him as well. One dog is worked too hard and when he is too tired to go on his owner cuts of his head with a knife.....Must I go on further?Many other dogs die in this book. This is just the tip of the iceberg.My family is vegiterian we dont eat meat because we think it is wrong to kill animals, so in a "GREAT" book that all eighth graders have to read we should find this much gore? This book is more graphic than horror movies or very graphic video games. Many people die in this book.This book was composed on values of murder and animal creulty.It should have never been published.Some of this book seems as if it was written by a seven year old or a small child who is obseesed with gore and nothing else.



Compulsive carnivorous activity

I read this book and i became sick. This is for children????... What could a child possibly learn from a book like this? With the last sentence being, "shes dead of course"!... This should be taken off the market and the auther penalized. He should get another career. This, clearly, is not his calling.

[Scheherazade]

Qu’est-ce que c’est? Fa-fa-fa-fa….American Psycho

...and where it’s going, no one knows.Slaughter House-5

Squeak, piggy, squeakLord of the Flies

The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism1984

‘Clueless’ is about rightEmma

Like The Omen with sprinklesCharlie and the Chocolate Factory

Not sure how many of the above guesses are correct but, once again, I realise how unfamiliar I am with children's literature (English)...

[prendrelemick]

Scooby do its not : Call of the Wild, or could be White fang. (I can't remember which is which.)

The compulsive carnivorous activity: could be There was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a fly. (A song that may have been made into a children's book.)


Gin a body meet a body: I once read a review very similar to this of Catcher in the Rye.


Not all moloko and cookies A Clockwork Orange.


The Classic American Breakfast: The diabolical Green Eggs and Ham.

The Shipping News is an unreadable book set in (Oh America my) New found land.

[MarkBastable]

Yep - that's the lot. Scheh got six and Mick got six, so here's a tie-breaker just for you two... To give you both a chance (given that Mick seems to be up at some godforsaken hour to do something to animals), answers can be posted only after you've had your lunch.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If anyone other than <author> had written this then it would probably have ended up on one of the many vanity publishing websites that plague the Web. ...this has the feel of a commissioned piece, or the fulfilment of a book deal commitment rather than great literature. As a book this is a massive piece of self-indulgence. It is also inherently anti-Semitic in a way that only a book written by a Jew about Jewish culture and society could get away with.

Overall a passingly useful insight into a very caricatured view of Jewish life, with quite a few Yiddish words that I didn't know, most of them scatological. As a book it doesn't seem to try hard to do anything other than dump the authors problems on the reader...

...it just reads like a little boy trying to see how many dirty words he can get away with using.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

During the very short time it's going to take them to work that out, perhaps the rest of us can take another look at this review of Green Eggs and Ham, and consider the kind of superbly screwed-up mindset that produced it.

Green Eggs and Ham

The "hero" of this tale spends the entirety of the book trying to force green eggs and ham upon a nameless skeptic. The "villain" turns down the offer several times, but the hero refuses to respect the man's right to say no, and badgers him incessantly until he caves under the pressure.

What disgusts me most about the end of the story is that once the man gives in, he is simply another addition to a pool of addicts. The author's tragic allegory for the rising drug use among young people that plagued his time period is brilliant, but certainly not appropriate for young children. Sam is too easily twisted to become a hero, opening the antagonist's mind to new things, rather than a metaphor for Satan as I believe was originally intended.

[prendrelemick]

It's The Challenge Cup Final today, so Lunch will be starting about now, be mainly liquid and finish around 4 o'clock - later if Leeds win.

I'll wait till then so as not to incur your roth.

[prendrelemick]

Portnoy's Complaint.