"Elementary, My Dear Watson!"
- Al Sisti
- Posts: 2075
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:28 pm
- Location: Whitesboro NY
Picked up a few more solvers on Nudge Wednesday...
69 Steve M
70 mkmf
71 Adam Simon Levine
72 THC
73 Guffman
74 bhamren
75 Johnny Luau
76 Adam Doctoroff
77 Cindy Heisler
78 CPJohnson
69 Steve M
70 mkmf
71 Adam Simon Levine
72 THC
73 Guffman
74 bhamren
75 Johnny Luau
76 Adam Doctoroff
77 Cindy Heisler
78 CPJohnson
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- Posts: 923
- Joined: Mon Apr 29, 2019 12:22 pm
Off the couch before the nudges. Very fun meta and clues. Loved 58A & 60D.
Speaking of autographs, what's the story of the baseballs in your last picture?
Speaking of autographs, what's the story of the baseballs in your last picture?
- Al Sisti
- Posts: 2075
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:28 pm
- Location: Whitesboro NY
Got a couple more, but definitely slowing down:
79 michaelm
80 Jaclyn
81 mkmf
79 michaelm
80 Jaclyn
81 mkmf
- Al Sisti
- Posts: 2075
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:28 pm
- Location: Whitesboro NY
All from our minor league baseball team, the Utica Blue Sox. One of them was from when I got hit in the face with a line drive. It's been a good program -- short season A ball, for most of its years -- but we have had some hall of famers and future hall of famers.
- Al Sisti
- Posts: 2075
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:28 pm
- Location: Whitesboro NY
- Al Sisti
- Posts: 2075
- Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:28 pm
- Location: Whitesboro NY
As the greasy pall of a London fog settles on the hallowed halls of 221B Baker Street, it’s time to reveal the answer to this week’s MMM.
We’re looking for “an element found in many of Holmes' solutions.” But where to start? For one, there were four clues with enumerations whose entries were spelled-out numbers:
17A – TWENTYSEVEN with the enumeration (1)
23A – TEN with the enumeration (4)
44A – FIFTYTHREEwith the enumeration (3) and
67A – TWENTY with the enumeration (2)
Ah, maybe if I look up the numbered squares 10, 20, 27 and 53; that’s gotta be it (even if it *is* too easy)! And they spell… N-O-P-E. Nope? Nope! Ohhhh… okay, back to square one.
So what else do we have? The title! “Elementary, My Dear Watson” (which, by the way, Holmes never once said in the entire canon). Parsing “elementary” in a different way is the key: The numbers are atomic numbers of elements, and in “enumeration order,” they spell:
#27 – Cobalt, or CO
#20 – Calcium, or CA
#53 – Iodine, or I
#10 – Neon, or NE… spelling out the answer to the prompt -- COCAINE.
(As referenced in a few of Holmes’ cases and in Nicholas Meyer’s “The Seven-Per-Cent Solution,” a cocaine-based solution was often used by Holmes to counteract his ennui when his brain was not engaged in a case).
The randomly selected winner from the 83 people who did crack the case is Steve M. Steve, let me know if you'd rather have a Blarney Rebel Band CD, or a Utica Club keepsake, or $15 donated to a charity of your choice. Congratulations!!
We’re looking for “an element found in many of Holmes' solutions.” But where to start? For one, there were four clues with enumerations whose entries were spelled-out numbers:
17A – TWENTYSEVEN with the enumeration (1)
23A – TEN with the enumeration (4)
44A – FIFTYTHREEwith the enumeration (3) and
67A – TWENTY with the enumeration (2)
Ah, maybe if I look up the numbered squares 10, 20, 27 and 53; that’s gotta be it (even if it *is* too easy)! And they spell… N-O-P-E. Nope? Nope! Ohhhh… okay, back to square one.
So what else do we have? The title! “Elementary, My Dear Watson” (which, by the way, Holmes never once said in the entire canon). Parsing “elementary” in a different way is the key: The numbers are atomic numbers of elements, and in “enumeration order,” they spell:
#27 – Cobalt, or CO
#20 – Calcium, or CA
#53 – Iodine, or I
#10 – Neon, or NE… spelling out the answer to the prompt -- COCAINE.
(As referenced in a few of Holmes’ cases and in Nicholas Meyer’s “The Seven-Per-Cent Solution,” a cocaine-based solution was often used by Holmes to counteract his ennui when his brain was not engaged in a case).
The randomly selected winner from the 83 people who did crack the case is Steve M. Steve, let me know if you'd rather have a Blarney Rebel Band CD, or a Utica Club keepsake, or $15 donated to a charity of your choice. Congratulations!!
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- Posts: 361
- Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2019 7:56 pm
That IS an impressive SH book collection, Al. I got through the entire canon with just a set of Berkley Medallion paperbacks. "The Speckled Band" (4-Down) was the first Holmes story I read, and I was hooked from then on. Also was a big fan of "The Seven Percent Solution" and, to a lesser extent, Solar Pons.
I wonder if you ever came across stories about Schlock Homes, from 221B Bagel Street. Clever parodies by Robert L. Fish which I found very amusing at the time. Ah, memories...
I wonder if you ever came across stories about Schlock Homes, from 221B Bagel Street. Clever parodies by Robert L. Fish which I found very amusing at the time. Ah, memories...
- ship4u
- Posts: 952
- Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2021 7:00 am
- Location: At Wit's End, Shaker Heights, Ohio
- Contact:
@Al Sisti , the title of this puzzle was ingenious and masterful!
More Holmes puzzles, please!!!
More Holmes puzzles, please!!!
Don & Cynthia
We are always happy to get to know other muggles and help in any way! PM's are always welcome. The next best thing to winning a mug is helping a fellow muggle win a mug!
We are always happy to get to know other muggles and help in any way! PM's are always welcome. The next best thing to winning a mug is helping a fellow muggle win a mug!
- sharkicicles
- Posts: 918
- Joined: Fri May 10, 2019 12:03 pm
- Location: Chicago
That’s pretty neat. As you can tell from my profile pic I’m a fan of Chicago’s minor league team.Al Sisti wrote: ↑Thu Apr 25, 2024 11:00 pmAll from our minor league baseball team, the Utica Blue Sox. One of them was from when I got hit in the face with a line drive. It's been a good program -- short season A ball, for most of its years -- but we have had some hall of famers and future hall of famers.
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