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Animal-Vegetable-Mineral-Abstract: The Pants Memorial Game
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The chairperson selects an object/idea/whatever and announces whether it's animal, vegetable, mineral, and/or abstract. The others have to ask questions to figure out what it is. Whomever guesses the object correctly is given the chair for the next round; repeat ad nauseam.
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Is it a snowstorm?
A whirlpool? El Niño?
well, the sea contains more than trace elements of something other than water...
[Brendan] No.
[Chalky] applause from audience That could be part of it.
[Darren] silence from audience That could be part of it as well, but it's probably not what you would first think of.
[ZK] No.
Is it a monsoon?
Is it a name for an extreme weather condition?
[Brendan] No.
[Inkspot] Not a name, and not all that extreme.

A hint about the fictional connection: there are actually two fictional connections: one a specific work which mentions it, and the other a body of fictional work in which it recurs from time to time.

The Jet Stream?
Acid rain?
[S] No.
[GL] No.
Thinking some more about the "more than trace amounts of something that isn't water," is this something Fortean like a shower of fish?
Is it about seeing clearly now that the rain has gone?
Weather [aka Climate]??
Singing in the Rain?
[Darren] No.
[GL] Quite the reverse.
[S] No.
[all] No.
The Calm before the storm?
Does it contain anything else apart from water and air?
(assuming that air is at least part of the non-water content)
The eye of the storm?
[GL] No.
[Brendan] No. Air is indeed the non-water part.
[Bm] No.

Ok, so it's established that storm is a significant part of it.

The Perfect Storm
[Snodgrass] No.
St Elmo's Fire?
Not really to do with air and water so much as electricity, but frankly, my flum is utterly moxed at this point.
[Brendan] No.
Trust me, you'll all know exactly what it is, and recognise its fictional appearances, when the answer is revealed.
The / A Tempest?
I don't know about flummoxed I haven't got a Clooney hence the frantic straw clutching with a perfect storm.
The specific fictional work was it written before 1940?
see if this will clear the fog a little.
Is a property of the general class of fictional works that they're set at sea?
[Snodgrass] No.
[Inkspot] Yes.
[Brendan] No.
April Showers?
Bermuda Triangle?
The fictional work referred to previously - is this a song?
[GL] No.
[Chalky] No.
[Darren] No.

Time for a hint?

Does the answer appear in the title of the work?
Raak]How about a one or two more questions on the source of the work, followed by a hint.
Is the fictional work pre-1850?
Is the fictional work by a man?
Fog?
[Inkspot] No.
[Brendan] Yes.
[Darren] Yes.
[snorgle] No.
The answers to Brendan and Daniel refer to the specific fictional work, not the body of fictional work, for which the answers would be No and Yes.
Daniel?!
Is the fictional work/body of work pre-1500?
I must admit I'm running out of questions here. Fiendish problem-setting from Raak and a good puzzle.
Is the fictional work European in origin?
[Darren[ Oops, sorry.
[Bm] No/No.
[Darren] Yes (but the fictional body of work isn't).

Hint: The fictional work is a novel, and the fictional body of work is a cartoon strip.

(novel)Was it written after 1900?(cartoon) did it appear in a comic?
Is it a dark and stormy night?
(in which case, I'm assuming the cartoon strip is Peanuts ...)
[Inkspot] No/No.
[Brendan] YES, it is a dark and stormy night!
Excellent puzzle, Raak!
OK, let's have an ANIMAL.
Is it a shaggy dog?
Continuing the dark and stormy night theme and the 'wouldnt send a dog out on a night like this' idea
[Snodgrass] Sadly not.
Is it human?
Is it a specific individual?
[GL] No.
[Raak] No.
Is it a fish out of water?
Is is mammalian?
[GL] No.
[Kim] No.
Is it a reptile?
Is it extinct?
Is it a bird?
Is it indiginous to a particular continent?
Raak] A wonderful candidate for Limited Short Stories sometime. The opening chapter of Paul Clifford by Edward Bulwer-Lytton.
Is it an insect?
[GL] No.
[all] Yes!
[Raak] No.
[Inkspot] No.
[Kim] No.
Is it a fish?
In the water this time
Is it a Tasmanian Wolf?
Did it live between 225 and 65 million years ago?
Is it a single celled organism?
[GL] No.
[all] Nope.
[Inkspot] Nuh uh.
[R.J.F.] It is not.
Is it a virus? (since they don't really have cells)
Did it become extinct during recorded history?
A Sabre Toothed Tiger
Is/was it fictional?
Did it live between the present and 65 million years ago?
[Darren] No.
[Raak] No.
[Snodgrass] No.
[GL] No, entirely real. I'm not even aware of any famous appearances in fiction.
[Inkspot] Good question: no.
Did it live underwater?
Summarising...
Animal, but not a bird, fish, reptile, insect, mammal, single-celled organism, or virus. Not indigenous to any particular continent. Went extinct more than 225 million years ago.
Was it a vertebrate?
[GL] Yes.
[Raak] An accurate summary, and no.
Was it amphibian?
A trilobite?
[Inkspot] No.
[Raak] Correct!
Gosh, er, let's see....

ABSTRACT, with VEGETABLE connections

Is it fictional?
Standard opening.
[Bm] No.
Is it something which can be an attribute of a human?
Is it a song title?
[Darren] No.
[Dujon] No.
Is it connected with environmental issues?
[Raak, Brendan] well played on both the 'setting' and 'guessing' - wish I had the opportunity to participate more this week :-(
Is it a human concept?
Standard opening number two.
Is the vegetable connection something to do with food?
Is it a well known phrase or saying?
Is the vegetable a fruit?
I shoudl revise the description to say it can be either ABSTRACT with VEGETABLE connections or VEGETABLE with ABSTRACT connections. And the VEGETABLE might include ANIMAL as well, depending.

[Chalky] No.
[Bm] Yes (this applies to the possible ANIMAL part as well).
[Darren] Yes.
[GL] No.
[Inkspot] No.

Is it a turnip for the books?
Is the vegetable connection, a vegetable?
Is it an amusingly-shaped vegetable/fruit?
[RJF] No.
[Inkspot] No.
[Chalky] No.
Is it a name of something a man made to be eaten?
eg a birthday cake.
Is the vegetable a forest?
[Inkspot] Yes.
[GL] No.
An easter egg?
[Inkspot] No.
A simnel cake?
Very seasonal.
[Software] No. And the mystery object isn't seasonal.
Is it associated with a particular country?
Does it involve chocolate?
Is it a chocolate orange?
Is it a type of pie?
[Inkspot] Not very strongly.
[all] No.
[GL] No.
[Darren] No.
Is it associated with a particular part of the day?
[Inkspot] No.
Is it a drink?
Is it boiled?
Blame the last question on the cup of tea, it wanted a mention.
[Inkspot] No, hence also, no.
The Gingerbread Man?
[GL] No.
Does it involve eggs?
[GL] All the recipes I found through Google do (which was a surprise to me, but I know little of how they are made).
Is it nomally eaten hot?
Rakk]A hen lays them! :p
Is normally frozen?
[Inkspot] So do ducks and most lizards
[Inkspot] No.
[GL] No.
Does it involve flour?
Is it a confectionary?
GL]and there was me being deliberatley obtuse over a form of words that tickled my funny bone ... simple pleasures for a Friday morning (hens don't lay recipes.)
Is it a cake?
[Inky] Duck and lizards do lay recipes. If you feed them right
[Brendan] Yes.
[Inkspot] Not really, although one might classify it as such.
[GL] It's closer to cake than confectionery.
Bread of some sort?
Is it a combination of different foods?
[GL] It is about as closely related to bread as it is to cake.
[Kim] No.
Does it contain cream?
[Inkspot] It can. At least, the concrete version can, the abstract one can't.
Does it involve pastry?
Is it a pancake?
Ambrosia?
Pardon my second guess here, but is it Pancake Day?
[GL] No.
[Darren] No.
[Chalky] No.
[Darren] No.

I'm going to be away all of tomorrow and some of Sunday, so let's see this one solved today.

Is it a type of cookie/biscuit?
[GL] No. Of the things mentioned, it's most like cake, a little less like bread or pancakes, somewhat less like a cookie/biscuit or pastry, and least like confectionery. It has this in common with pancakes, though, that you can combine it with pretty much anything else. And don't forget the abstract part, which is nothing to do with any festival or work of fiction.
Does the 'Abstract' element have a mythological/religious connection?
This is tricky because it seems we're guessing on two fronts.
Ah - simulpost. It seems you read my mind, Raak.
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