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 ....
[Rosie] Processed material? ... ... ... No. But sorta. [Simons] YES, it is made by animals. The audience cheers, even those who were still out at the intermission and haven't found their seats yet. [Tuj] NOT unique.
Right, to cut through all these very good suggestions, well done everyone! But Simons Mith wins the audience's chocolate bunny this round, it's a shell, NO to all the rest. The card still has another word on it, and the question count is at 10.
[Simons ] NO, no fowl play here. [Boolbar] YES, there would be an audience sensation here but the Skype link went down. [Raak ] NO, not even a mock turtle. Question count up to 13.
I've never seen cuttlefish bones on beaches, if they're that common presumably I didn't know what I was looking at. [Software] NO. [Raak] YES, it's the razor shell. Take this baton covered in mother-of-pearl and go on to better things!
Yes, the James Webb Space Telescope, which will be a satellite when it's launched. Have this baton-shaped chocolate-covered sponge cake which philosophers can't prove isn't floating somewhere in the asteroid belt since last Tuesday.
Oooh, lovely! Awesome and then some. Bear with me as the Laser Display Board is updated for the audience. For the contestants, the subject is Abstract. (The physical object could be An, Veg, or Min, but I am looking for a property which is Abstract.)
[Simons Mith] NO, they cannot. The primary object can be made from something A, V or even M, but the property sought is not linked to the substance. [Rosie] NO. Not linked to a bodily junction in any way I can think of. [Raak] NO, it is more recent.
[Bismarck] YES, I have several in my home and I suspect most people have. [Boolbar] NO, food has nothing to do with this. [Raak] NO, as far as the objects go they are all rectangular. [Simons Mith] YES, numbers come into it. NO religious connections though, not even a chapel in Las Vegas.
[Software] NO, not jigsaws. [Bismarck] YES, in fact someone has already mentioned it, but not in the right context. [Simons Mith] NO, not boxes. [Boolbar] NO, only a link of extreme tenuousness can be drawn with your three P's.
ABSTRACT with distinct Animal, Vegetable and Mineral connections—by which I mean I am thinking of one particular connection of each type above all. To add to the confusion, the Mineral connection has its own Animal and Vegetable subconnections.
Song? No. Loud applause, some muttering, and also a little laughter. Scientific idea? No. Game? No. Fossils? No. Curiously, there is a slight smattering of applause.
Applicable to elderly? The least misleading answer is surely No. But there is a sense in which I could say Yes. The question just doesn't actually make much sense with respect to the AOTC. A museum? No. Another smattering of applause. Geological? No. The audience considers retracting its smattering response to the "Fossils" question on the grounds that it was probably unhelpful. Orchestra? No. The audience considers smattering, then thinks better of it.
Is it just me who, when reading through this game, mentally hears the audience reactions (which sound a lot like an ISIHAC audience during Sound Charades)?
Myth and legend? There is a connection. At the start I stated that the Mineral Connection to the AOTC has Animal and Vegetable subconnections; myth/legend are an Abstract subsubconnection of the Animal subconnection of the Mineral connection to the answer on the card, which is Abstract. I presume that clarifies matters. :) Begins with P? No. To do with sounds people make? It can, but need not, be connected to sounds that people make. (Also, sounds people make could be an Abstract subsubconnection of the Animal subconnection blahblahblah.)
(To the extent the last question was prompted by the one occasion of audience enthusiasm, that might indeed be a profitable line of enquiry. Or you might want to pursue one or more of the A,V,M connections.)
Civilisation? I'm going to go with Yes. Some of these questions are so broad that they are hard to answer, but, I dunno, "Yes" just feels right in this case. That said, I'm not sure it's helpful.
Rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock? Finally, a question I can answer easily. No. Musical instrument? No, but musical instruments are a subconnection of the Mineral connection of the AOTC.
Communication? No. Mineral = metal? No. Religious? No, but there are certainly religious subconnections of the Mineral connection of the AOTC Cyclopedic? No. Despite all of the various subconnections and subsubconnections, the AOTC is actually something quite specific.
Philosophical? The best answer is No, although there is a connection. History? The best answer is No, although there is a connection. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire? No. (Some audience laughter.) Single author? Yes.
So it's the title of a work of poetry written before 1900 (and possibly much older). It is not the author's entire work, but it is more than one book while not being a collection, and it doesn't begin with P. There are connections through the title to A, M, and V, as well as to legends in a way.
Bismarck's recap is mostly right. However, I did not say the AOTC was more than one book. I said it was not a single book. I'll also tell you for free that I was thinking of the main animal connection as being the author, and the main vegetable connection as paper. The mineral connection, which has not been explored, has—as already noted—Animal and Vegetable subconnections, and various subsubconnections.
Medium other than a book? No. I mean, like everything else, it now also exists on the internet, but otherwise you’d normally expect to find it in a book.
Poem about a historic event? (The audience applauds the question.) That's a bit tricky to answer, but at the risk of giving too much away, I'll do my best. The simple answer is No. Thinking about the AOTC in terms of a specific historic event is not in itself helpful.
That said, there is definitely a historical aspect both to the AOTC (more specifically the mineral subconnection) and to the various subsubconnections of the mineral subconnection. And it is also correct to say that those historical subsubconnections involve an event or events, broadly understood.
Longfellow? No. Ozymandias? No. (Shelley has already been suggested and rejected. Also, I don't know what you mean by "the name"; there has been no mention of a name in this AVMA.)
I'm surprised this is proving so difficult. It's not that obscure. And you will get there eventually just by naming poets, but I'm not sure if it is the best route to the answer.
National anthems? No. As a tidbit of extra information to add to my previous answer, there is a strong connection to a particular country (which is not England).
Given that a Greek Ancient would not have penned his poetry in English I am forced to the conclusion that the AOTC must be one of the many translations of his works. I have no idea as to the name of any of those conversions but would suggest Homer as the poet.
Rapturous applause is cut suddenly short by the judges' response. Audience members look at each other puzzled. Murmurings of discontent give rise to crescendoing boos from some, while others google frantically. Rotten fruit is hurled. The judges retreat, huddle briefly, and reverse their verdict.
Ode on a Grecian Urn? Yes.
The judges run away, leaving behind a baton inscribed with the words "Beauty is truth, truth beauty".