Just to make a change…
Sunday, July 26 2009
... from connecting walls, here is an excellent fish.
Comments
Rainbow says:
July 27th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Why is the excellent fish trying to cross the road?
MarkP says:
July 27th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
I was reading your Observer article and it reminded me of a documentary I saw about Kirsten O’Brien who can’t get work as a serious presenter because of her kids TV image. She was pondering doing a lad’s mag but chose to do stand–up comedy instead.
Rad says:
July 27th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
The fish is a little scary, but would make a good loofa.
If no-one else is gridding, how about this one?
Rad (who was wrongly accused of being a bloke the other day and is very much of the lady variety)
VINE / GORDON / GEORGE / LIGHT
ANNE / GILBERT / WHITE / DANCE
BREAD / TRUTH / DUSTIN / BLOOD
LAMB / FLOODS / ANNIVERSARY / EDD
Andrew H says:
July 27th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
You wash your hair and then you can’t do a thing with it....I know how it feels.
Thingyame says:
July 27th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
There’s something very Dr Seuss about it to me
Odds On says:
July 27th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
I guess that that’s what happens when two genetic engineers can’t decide whether they want a cat or a goldfish.
LC says:
July 27th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
The fish looks a bit… knitted.
Victoria Coren says:
July 28th, 2009 at 12:03 am
I wish I’d had knitted fish when I was a child. Would have been a lot less traumatic.
As for the new grid.. hmm.. there seem to be a lot of biblical things in there. Is Jesus a connection? Truth / Light / Lamb and.. um.. er.. bread?
Rad says:
July 28th, 2009 at 2:37 am
words to describe Jesus is a connection… you have 3/4 of them.
Rain says:
July 28th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Flash - Gordon, Light, Floods, Dance
Diamond - Anne, Dustin, Blood, Anniversary/White
Rad says:
July 28th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Rain - Flash is correct
Diamond is also correct but which 4 of the 5 go with it...? (Getting the fourth set will help you figure that out)
Fulgur says:
July 28th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
You told us in The Observer yesterday that you have a size 14 arse. You don’t have an arse, Victorear, you have a bottom. You may play a vulgar game, but it needn’t infect The Observer.
Matt M says:
July 28th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
“For the second series, inspired by gorgeous fat Joan from Mad Men, I decided to turn up with a new wardrobe of close-fitting dresses and show off my “womanly curves” as if they were a good thing. Nobody spotted the difference”
I think people did spot the difference and I was actually going to congratulate you for sacking whoever was responsible for the ill fitting series 1 suits. I assumed it was a conscious decision to avoid setting BBC4 pulses racing but it produced a faux “back to school, you’ll grow into them” chic. As it was your own choice I’m glad I kept my mouth shut and ....
(grape - vine, white, gilbert, ?)
David Bodycombe says:
July 28th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Ok, so this has been going on for a while so fair game I have a go.
What about puppets?
DUSTIN the Turkey (Ireland’s Eurovision entry)
GEORGE (Rainbow, I’m guessing)
GILBERT (as in ITV kid’s show Gilbert’s Fridge)
EDD the Duck
Seems like quite a disparate group but I think it works.
Rain says:
July 28th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
I think the Site Moderator should come down like a ton of bricks on unwelcome interlopers who are prepared to befoul these threads with unseemly anatomical references such as ‘****’,’*******’ and ‘size **’, when the people here are only playing harmless parlour games or looking at excellent fish. Fulgur can no more distinguish between this blog and the Whiners’ comments section of the Observer than he can between his **** and his elbow.
Victoria Coren says:
July 28th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
David, of course you should have a go! Why should you have all the hard work and none of the fun?
So, Team Coren Blog’s attempt at this grid currently looks like
FLASH: GORDON/ LIGHT/ DANCE /FLOODS
DIAMOND: BLOOD / WHITE/ ANNE/ ?
JESUS: TRUTH / LAMB/ ?/ ?
- and then one other category that might be puppets or might be grape. And some of the clues above might be in the wrong category - but assuming the ‘flash’ category is correct. Remaining clues:
DUSTIN/ GEORGE/ GILBERT/ EDD / VINE/ BREAD / ANNIVERSARY
I think we need Rad’s answer on the grape / puppets question…
(PS. Rain, thanks for your last post, made me laugh).
baby fish says:
July 29th, 2009 at 8:44 am
“Standing on the shoulders of giants”, can I suggest the following?:
FLASH: GORDON/ LIGHT/ DANCE /FLOODS
DIAMOND: BLOOD / WHITE/ ANNE/ Anniversary
JESUS: TRUTH / LAMB/ Vine / Bread (misspent youth in Sunday School)
David’s puppets: DUSTIN/ GEORGE/ GILBERT/ EDD
P.S. Only got the poker hands connection correct on last week’s programme, so not expecting this to be right
Rad says:
July 29th, 2009 at 9:18 am
[MOD. THIS CAME IN BEFORE THE POST ABOVE AND GAVE THE ANSWER, BABY FISH’S SOLUTION IS CORRECT!]
Hello all.
davidbod got the puppets right.
and between you you’ve pretty much got it…
I thought that was actually easier than it turned out to be… Well done all…
adam says:
July 29th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
i was still looking for the dr seuss connection, guess that was the fish, huh? didn’t do much better on the show on monday and even messed up on one of the poker questions on university challenge (yes!)
paxo could learn a thing or two about being a sympathetic host from vicky.
JB says:
July 29th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Arriving ridiculously late onto the bandwagon, I have a grid for those who find them fun.
LIVINGSTONE / STANLEY / HORNE / WEBB
GAMA / NELSON / HARDY / CORDEN
TON / WILLIAMS / PORTER / BRANAGH
SINGLE / POINT / DUCK / WISE
On the grounds that I’m about two weeks late for this, however, I don’t mind if people have had enough!
Andrew H says:
July 29th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
I think I may be getting the hang of these.
How about LIVINGSTONE/HORNE/WILLIAMS/BRANAGH = all Kenneths/Kens.
Saw the repeat of the show, but didn’t do too well.
Fitch says:
July 29th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
After Kefalonia I went to Newquay, I found the cliffs very high. I was frightened.
Sad eh!
baby fish says:
July 30th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
second half of comedy duos? - (Morecombe and) WISE, (Laurel and) HARDY, (Horne and) CORDEN, (Mitchell and) WEBB
JB says:
July 30th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Spot on, Andrew H.
David Bodycombe says:
July 30th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Well, assuming the Kens are right, this is quite an interesting grid to unpick. I think the connections are explorers, cricket scores and halves of comedy double acts, but POINT has me foxed. Unfortunately, there are actually quite a few semi-famous explorers with surnames like WEBB and CORDEN but I’m assuming the setter’s restricting us to well-known examples.
STANLEY
GAMA
NELSON (also a cricket score)
TON
SINGLE
DUCK
HARDY
PORTER
WISE
CORDEN
WEBB
POINT (cricket position but not a score)
AndytheDealer says:
July 30th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
SINGLE / POINT / DUCK / TON - Cricket?
JB says:
July 30th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
baby fish is also correct in her group and reasoning, so we have:
Livingstone / Horne / Williams / Branagh - all famous Kens or Kenneths
Wise / Hardy / Corden / Webb - second half of famous double acts.
David Bodycombe has sort of got a group correct without perhaps wholly realising it (and I can’t give more of a clue than that!), and AndytheDealer can’t really get any closer without being correct, but isn’t quite right in either group or category.
Robert Duboff says:
July 31st, 2009 at 12:30 am
Hey Vicky,
Congrats on the blackjack in vegas.
You will make an illegible bloggers dream with a link to his blog on your blog.
If you link my blog I will reciprocrate with a shout out on my twitter. I currently have 5 followers and one is my sister.
Thanks
Robert
Victoria Coren says:
July 31st, 2009 at 2:14 am
Well yes that’s fine but you have to *include the link*....
Robert Duboff says:
July 31st, 2009 at 3:25 am
www.pokerwithrobert.blogspot.com
Thanks
David Bodycombe says:
July 31st, 2009 at 9:17 am
Thinking laterally, are they binary numbers?
Duck = 0
Single = 1
Ton = 100
Nelson = 111
JB says:
July 31st, 2009 at 11:48 am
That’s the group, and you were right first time in terms of category - they’re cricketing terms for a number of runs - duck=0, single=1, ton=100, nelson=111.
So that leaves Stanley / Gama / Porter / Point as the final (and hardest group, probably). Perhaps Point might have a song to sing, O in order to help you out!
AndytheDealer says:
August 3rd, 2009 at 12:53 pm
General STANLEY
King GAMA
Sir John PORTER
Jack POINT
They are all comic Baritones in Gilbert and Sullivan Operas. Thanks for the clue!
David Bodycombe says:
August 3rd, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Very cunning indeed. I think this deserves a prize as the best knitted-together grid of those submitted. JB, please email me your postal address to david (at) qwertyuiop.co.uk and - after checking with VC - I’ll send you a couple of puzzle books.
JB says:
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:38 pm
AndytheDealer is correct (though on a point of pure pedantry, it should be Major-General Stanley and Sir Joseph Porter, KCB).
Whilst that is the connection I was thinking about, I would also have had to accept the solution that they were all parts created by George Grossmith in the original D’Oyly Carte productions - it therefore coming as no surprise to know he was the original comic baritone of the company (pace Fred Sullivan, who was the original Judge in Trial by Jury).
daniel maris says:
August 26th, 2009 at 2:07 am
Pimp my fish!