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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 sugar loaf?
[Sugar loaf] No. Cool idea, but no. You know, I knew about the mountain, never once thought about where it got its name.
Are these normally bought in packets containing different colours and flavours?
The problem with all this is I can't see what in this line is not available in a supermarket. I can get sweets and molasses and Mars bars for deep-frying in my local supermarket. So: is it a sugar chair, like those used in the movies to shatter over someone's head?
[Packets] No...? Yees...? I suspect that's too close to call nowadays. Nevertheless, solid clappage occurs

[Sugar chair] No.

[Supermarkets] Supermarkets may be pretty comprehensive, but they don't sell everything. I'd only expect this to show up in the biggest supermarkets (and the right specialist shops), so when asked about 'normal' supermarkets I said no. I don't think Twickenham Waitrose has 'em, for example, and that's a good-sized shop. But for Kingston Waitrose, which is quite a bit larger, I reckon the balance tips. You all need to tell me the precise square footage of your nearest supermarket, then I'll redo the calculations. :-)

[SM's Mat Mystery] No, not Lambert. Besides, my government name is neither Mat nor Matt.
Are they mostly used for commercial purposes? The supermarket thing had me believing it was some industrial ingredient only used in factories, so let's tease that one out if we can.
Would some type of restaurant use this?
Some type of pastille?
Opal fruits?
My favourite...
Is it medicinal?
I thought of Fisherman's Friends a while ago, but the dating doesn't fit.
[Commercial] Yes. At least in the sense I think you mean. They're things people can buy, but unusual enough that only a larger-than average supermarket would stock 'em.
[Restaurants] No.
[Pastilles] No.
[They're starburst now, bah] No.
[Medicinal] No.
Used to decorate cakes?
Correction
Sorry, rereading Mat's query, I think I ought to change that to a No. Overlooked the word 'purposes'. This isn't, e.g. catering supplies, it's an ordinary thing bought for or by its end-user.
Dragees?
[Cake decor, dragees] No and no.
Do they typically come individually wrapped?
[Individually wrapped] No.
Are they spherical?
[Spherical] Yes! Strong applause
Are they more than 1cm in diameter?
[Diametrics] Yes! More applauses, possibly even whoops
More than 2 inches?
Gobstoppers?
standing on the shoulders of giants
A winner at last
[Gobstoppers] Yes! Gobstoppers is the AOTC. Audience collapses in relief, and they're probably not alone By Jove you had to work hard for that one. I was genuinely surprised that no-one thought to ask 'Sweets' weeks ago.
I think a lot of us were focused in on sweets for a long time, even if we never asked the question specifically. (That was my focus of attention ever since your reply when I asked if sugar was an ingredient.) The "no" to boiled sweets, though undoubtedly a correct answer, may have ended up taking us away from the right line of thinking.

MINERAL
Marbles?
Unique?
Metallic?
Marbles? No.
Hidden text''Unlike the ones from the book and the films, where Willy Wonka says you would break your teeth if you tried to chew a gobstopper, the Nestle produced gobstoppers are chewable once sucked long enough, and unlike their fictional counterparts they are not everlasting.'' Remarkably, that does not have a [citation needed].

Unique? Yes.
Metallic? Yes. *some muttering and head-shaking in the audience*
Is it found on planet Earth?
Does it weigh more than a million tons?
Is it smaller than a toaster?
Is it a small blob of neutron star matter?
(Just on the off chance that the answers to the previous two are both yes.)
Neutron Blob. The latest addition to the Mornington Crescent Cinematic Universe
On Earth? Yes.
> 1012g? Yes.
< toaster? No.
Neutron Blob? No.
The totality of British steam locomotives in 1960?
About 1.2 million tons give or take.
Ancient locomass? I know you'll find this hard to believe, Rosie, but No.
The Earth's core?
Human made?
Does it begin with P?
Earth's core? No. *some applause*
Human made? No.
Begin with P? No.
Is it the reserves of something?
Is it visible at the surface of the Earth?
Reserves? No.
Visible at the surface of the Earth? Yes.
Man-made?
Iron ore?
A specialised building?
Man-made? No.
Iron ore? No.
Specialised building? No.
A mountain?
Is it thinly spread all over the planet?
All the uranium in the oceans?
Is the metal in elemental form?
Mountain? Yes.
Thinly spread? No.
Damp and salty U? No.
Metal in elemental form? I am pretty sure the answer is Yes, though I know Rosie is a chemistry expert, while chemistry has never been my strong suit, so apologies in advance if I got this wrong.
(CdM) I meant metal as metal rather than chemically combined as in an ore, or rust even.
Does it begin with an E?
[Rosie] *nods* You can tell me at the end of the round whether I was right or not. :)
Begins with an E? No.
Is it plated?
Is the metal metaphorical?
Is it in a single nation?
Plated? No.
Metaphorical? No.
In a single nation? Yes.
Is it in Europe?
Is the metal copper?
In Europe? Yes.
Copper? No.
Does the metal end in 'um'?
As so many of them do
Does the name of this mountain include the name of a metal?
End in um? Yes. And also No. Check your assumptions.
Name include name of a metal? No.
A little more research also suggests to me that the correct answer to Rosie's last question (elemental form) might be Yes and No. But I am honestly not sure what the best answer is.
Is just one metal involved?
Is it West of Prague?
I should ask this more often.
Just one metal involved? No.
Hidden textIn a nerdy linguistic way, I find it interesting that the phrase 'the metal', which showed up in four questions, spanned meanings that I reasonably interpreted as potentially including multiple metals (elemental, metaphorical), to a meaning that definitely required a single metal (ending in -um). 'Is the metal copper?' kinda sits in the middle; I perhaps should have suggested assumption checking at that point. As you were.

West of Prague? Yes.
Hidden textOf course, it's also East of Prague, if you go far enough.
Does the mountain actually have Mount or Mountain in its name?
Is this mountain named on Google Maps?
The EU Butter Mountain it isn't, but it's too good not to play it
Mount or mountain in the name? There are in fact two acceptable answers on the card. The answer is Yes for one and No for the other. *a little muttering from some of the more literal-minded audience members*
Named on Google Maps? Yes. (Both answers on the card appear on Google Maps.)
Butter Mountain? No. (Interestingly, the second one of those would clearly have been only a marginal Yes in response to Tuj's last question.)

(This one is proving harder than I expected. I hope I haven't been misleading with any of my answers.)
Is it in Wales?
Is it South of Lyon?
In Wales? No.
South of Lyon? No.
What I would like it to be is the enormous yellow sulphur dumps you get at the end of some oil pipelines where they de-sulphurise the stuff. Is it that?
Enormous yellow sulphur dumps you get at the end of some oil pipelines where they de-sulphurise the stuff? No.
Is it in the Alps?
In the Alps? No.
In the UK?
Does mining come into it?
In the UK? No.
Mining-related? No.
(And, as I keep reading, I now think that my answer to Rosie probably should have been No. But I'm still not sure. Did I mention that chemistry is not my strong suit?)
Is it south of Loen?
You know, the village in Stryn Municipality in Vestland county in Norway.
Is it an island?
Oh, _that_ Loen
South of Loen? No. Which means it is also north of every Loon, Lyon, Leon, Léon, and León listed in Wikipedia.
An island? No.
Does water play a part?
Is it in Iceland?
Watery? No.
In Iceland? Yes! *applause*
Eyjafjallajökull?
Strike that suggestion - begins with an E
Is it a chocolate pavlova mountain?
You can find them in Iceland.   :)
Does either form of the name end with "-jökull"?
Eyjafjallajökull? No. *some applause*
Chocolate pavlova mountain? No.
Hidden text Only after googling did I understand the joke -- no Iceland where I currently live or have previously lived. :)

Jökullsuffixed? No.
North Atlantic Ridge?
North Atlantic Ridge? No. *some applause*
Surtsey?
Surtsey? No. (Not an island) *applause*
Is it only in Iceland?
Only in Iceland? Yes.
Does it begin with a K (in Icelandic)?
Begins with a K? No.
I'm surprised this is taking so long; I would have thought it was easy to guess by this point.
The amount of lava erupted from a volcano?
I'll have you know I spent at least one microlife yesterday looking up the geology and geography of Iceland on Wikipedia, and I've still no idea what it is.
Quantity of lava? No.
Now I'm feeling guilty! The audience applauds at the word "volcano".
Hidden textAt this point I will tell you for free that all my confusion/ignorance with regard to Rosie's question does indeed concern lava. I have never thought much about lava beyond the fact that it's a, well, hot mess. What exactly is going on chemically, I have no idea. Maybe, with Rosie's help, I'll end this AVMA better informed than I was when I started. :)
Fagradalsfjall!
Hekla, with lots of shouting
Hekla? Hekno, because...
...Fagradsfjall, which commenced eruptions in March of this year and is still erupting (at least as of yesterday) is indeed the answer on the card. "Fjall" is Icelandic for mountain. The other acceptable answer on the card was Geldingadalir which is the more precise location of the eruption.
Hidden textFull disclosure. The original AOTC was just Geldingadalir, but when I was asked whether the AOTC was a mountain, I felt it would have been badly misleading to have answered No, so I hurriedly grabbed my Sharpie and wrote in Fagradalsfjall as well. Also, to clarify one other piece of my answers, I went with the fact that one dictionary definition of 'metallic' is simply 'containing a metal'; I was a little worried that answer might mislead and tried to convey as much with the audience reaction; in the end it didn't seem to lead you astray too much!
Hidden textI clearly overthink this, don't I? :)
(Careful with this baton, Raak. It's still a bit hot.)
The next is VEGETABLE and sometimes ANIMAL, with ABSTRACT connections; or vice versa.
An anorak?
A wahoo from the centre circle.
Is it edible?
[Rosie] Not an anorak.
[CdM] Not edible, is the simplest answer.
Rethinking the rubric, it might be better if more long-windedly expressed as VEGETABLE and MINERAL, with ABSTRACT, VEGETABLE and sometimes ANIMAL connections.
Human Made?
A musical instrument?
Would a Morniverser typically own one of these?
[B] Yes, human made.
[SM] Not a musical instrument.
[R] I think a Morniverser would not typically own one of these, although they very well might.
A fossil?
A weapon?
Is the vegetable wood? Is the mineral stone?
[RtG] Not a fossil.
[R] Not a weapon.
[SM] There can be wood, peripherally. (murmur of amusement in the audience)
[SM2] (Confers with Mycroft. Mycroft gives a definite nod.) Yes, the mineral is stone.
Are the animal connections just because it is human-made (and perhaps human-used?), or do they go beyond that?
[CdM] The animal connections go beyond human make or use.
Is it a weapon? Is it a tool?
[B1] Not a weapon.
[B2] Not a tool.
Is it art?
Is the item fire- or heat-related?
[B] *applause!* It is art.
[SM] Not fire- or heat-related.
Is it commonly sited indoors?
[SM] Yes, indoors.
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