mc5 - AVMA Take 2

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AVMA Take 2

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Yes, it's another round of that classic guessing game - Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Abstract [or any combination thereof]. This effort - '03/'04 should address any queries, but then again, may just serve to confuse and baffle which some might say is the point of the game. Patience, integrity and a decent search engine may be useful ....

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A pun?

[Raak] To do with playing? NO
[CdM] A pun? NO.

Some clarification

While I have said no to playing, puns, preaching, proper nouns, philistines, page numbers, catch phrases and others, the answer on the card is related to all these things in a way.

Printed words?

[GL] Printed words? NO (but again, related as above).

The letter P?

[Boolbar] The letter P? YES - plaudits, pleasantries, praise and power be thine. Passing this practically perfect pole of power from person-to-person in the pursuit of pedantic pleasure is a project of prime privilege. Phew!

[Phil] Bravo!

Blimey! Funny enough, I needed a p after all that.

Let's do this ...
ABSTRACT (WITH ANIMAL, MINERAL & VEGETABLE ASSOCIATIONS)

An activity

A cracking start.

[NotJohn] Being active? - YES *Audience look keen*

Creation?

Peeing?

[Gusset Login] Creation? Did you mean The Creation or the act of creation in general? Either way, NO.
However, the AOTC was created, if your meaning was "is it a creation?"
[Phil] Micturate? NO.

A game?

this is going well.

[Raak] Game-on! YES *applause*

Normally takes place outdoors?

[NotJohn] Normally done outside? YES

Does the game involve a ball?

Is it widely played in England?

[cfm] Ball Game? NO.
[Phil] Widely played in England?
Hmmm. I suspect NO. It is played in England (as well as other countries), but not widely (as in often *and* all over the country, e.g. cricket or chess).

Does the game require forming teams?

Ultimate frisbee?

A spectator sport?

[cfm] Teams? NO. I'm sure it can be played with teams, but it isn't usually.
[CdM] Ultimate frisbee? NO.
[Raak] Spectator sport? I think the best answer is NO. But there is nothing to stop people watching!

Are there organised competitions?

Is it normally associated with one culture

e.g. Kabbadi (sp?)

Does the game involve equipment of some kind?

Do the players typically get muddy?

[Phil] Competitions? YES. I know of at least one.
[ImNotJohn] One culture? NO. I think.
[cfm] Equipment? YES-ish. Players need an item to play the game, but calling it equipment is perhaps misleading. Would the pies in a pie-eating contest be called equipment?
[Raak] Mud glorious mud? NO. But the opportunity is there.

Cheese-rolling?

Does the 'equipment' constitute the vegetable and mineral part of the definition?

[Phil] Chasing Cheese? NO.
[NotJohn] 'Equipment' vegetable/mineral? YES for vegetable traditionally. Some mineral items can also be used. *Audience applause and murmur*

Is it a game in which two people play against each other?

Is there a non-human animal connection?

Does this involve the throwing/tossing of an object?

Does it involve climbing?

Is the vegetal matter wood?

[Raak] One-against-one? YES. Or more than two. At least two.
[cfm] Non-human animal? In an abstract way, there is a connection, so YES. *Audience mutter*
[Dujon] Tossing? YES *A ripple of applause* Or at least using gravity.
[NotJohn] Climbing? NO.
[Phil] Vegetable wood? YES! *A wave of applause* The vegetable part could also be a mineral to play, but in the origins of the game, it was vegetable (wood).

Poohsticks?

Golf?

Winner!

[Raak] A hole in one? NO.
[NotJohn] Poohsticks? YES!! Your stick has passed under the bridge first.
Hands NotJohn a somewhat moist twig.

It's the little flick of the wrist as you drop it that makes all the difference.

OK, this one is VEGETABLE or (ANIMAL with ABSTRACT connections)

Wooden Horse?

[Phil] Sylvan equine? - NO

A vegetable?

As in, "a vegetable" being the answer, metaphorical for someone irreversibly brain-dead.

Some great guesses here

[Raak] Vegetable vegetable? - NO

Trojan Horse?

Is this a homograph?

A wooden sculpture?

A swede?

[GL] Trojan Horse? - NO
[Chalky] Homograph? - Tricky, I think it could be argued either way, but I'd go for - NO
[Raak] Wooden Sculpture? - NO
[Dujon] Swede? - NO

Is the Animal a human?

Is it usually eaten?

[Chalky] - Human animal? - YES
[Boolbar] Usually eaten? - NO

Made of paper?

[CdM] Papery? - NO, but * a few suppressed chuckles in the audience*

Is it unique?

Made of wood?

Some progress

[Boolbar] Only 1? - YES for the Animal
[Phil] Woody? - YES for the vegetable

Fictitional Animal?

[Chalky] Fictional Animal? - NO

Is it a tree?

Aha!

[Boolbar] A Tree? - YES *prolonged applause*

Family tree?

[Software] Genealogical? - NO

A specific kind of tree?

Warm

[CdM] Specific kind of tree? - YES *further applause*

Rowan?

Tree of Life?

[Phil] - Rowan? - NO? (So not ROWAN Atkinson, nor ASHley Cole, nor Gabriel OAK, etc)
[cfm] Tree of Life? - NO

Joshua Tree?

[cfm] U2 Tree? - NO (I wondered if someone would guess that)

There is no cheating or discrepancy going on here - the answer, exactly as stated on the card, is both a kind of tree and a unique human animal. Attacking either part is possible. Perhaps inevitably some people will find one alternative easier than the other.

Sequoyah?

[Raak] Sequoia? - NO (I'll look up your spelling - mine is that required to make it the equal shortest word containing all vowels once only)

{Raak] Isn't that fascinating - thank you. It's also a very good guess. Just happens to be incorrect.

Is the tree an evergreen?

Is the unique human male?

[Boolbar] Evergreen - YES
[cfm] - male? - YES

Did he die before 1900?

Died pre-1900? - NO *the audience is hushed*

Courtney Pine?

[Chalky] Courtney Pine? - NO

Stan Laurel?

[Phil} - A laurel called Stan? - NO
Just a a gentle prod, the person is probably the harder element to get for most of you.

Is it a pine tree?

[Boolbar] A pine? - Technically NO, but commonly YES *applause*

Scots pine?

A fir?

[cfm] McPine? - NO
[Raak] Firry? - NO

The monkey puzzle?

I thank my dear late father for one of his useless facts.

Araucaria

We have a winner AND we have a winner

The answer on the card is Araucaria, aka the Monkey Puzzle tree or the Chilean Pine.
Araucaria is also the pseudonym of the Rev. John Galbraith Graham, the doyen of British cryptic crossword compilers, who recently announced that he is suffering from terminal cancer using the answers to clues in one of his puzzles to do so. (Araucaria is suffering from 18 down of the 19, where the clue to 18 down was 'Sign of growth (6)')
Well then, now what do I do - Phil is exactly right, but he set the last one and in the absence of his answer I would have allowed Software's, so I will.
One 'Stick to continue the innings (5)' passed on to Software.

Department of Corrections

That's 'last but one'

Indeed, I meant to add that if I got that right, I would give the baton to Software, as I would not have got it without him. I remember the day (probably early 1990s) that I discovered what the crossword compiler's name meant. I hadn't heard about his illness though. Anyway, onwards and upwards (or downwards and acrosswards)

Department of useless facts

John Graham also sets puzzles under the pseudonym 'Cinephile', which is an anagram of 'Chile Pine'.

Ah, that'll be me then accepting the prickly baton.

Right, ANIMAL with ABSTRACT connections.

Red rum?

Human?

Fictional?

Animal the Muppet drummer?

[GL] Horse meat? NO
[cfm] One of us? YES!
[NJ] Virtual? NO
[Bool] Don't be a Muppet. NO

A unique human?

Currently alive?

[cfm] One-off? YES!
[NJ] Living? YES!

A male?

[Phil] Manly? YES!

The creative type? (writer, visual artist, performer, etc.)

Does this person have some language other than English as his mother tongue?

British?

Is or was involved in politics?

[cfm] arty farty? NO
[CdM] Bilingual? NO
[Raak] True Brit? YES!
[NJ] political animal? NO *some muttering among the audience*

Involved in government?

A member of the Royal Family?

[cfm] Elected? NO *more mutterings in audience*
[Phil] Royalty?NO

A scientist?

Has this person received an honour from the Queen?

A non-elected government employee?

A journalist?

[Phil] Boffin? NO *guffaws from some of the audience*
{Raak} Dubbed? YES! *mutterings among some of the audience*
[cfm] Quangoish? NO *some of the audience have views on this it would seem*
[NJ] Hack? NO

Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe CH KBE?

David Beckham?

[Raak] Superman? NO
[Phil] Becks? NO

Involved in the Justice system?

[NJ] Judiciary? NO

Involved in the sporting world?

A broadcaster?

[Raak] Sporty?: NO
[Phil] Pundit?: NO (not in the normal sense anyway)

Under 50 years old?

Over 70 years old?

[Phil] <50 years?: NO
[Bool] >70 years?: NO

A businessman?

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