From: kaufman@gmu90x.gmu.edu (Ken Kaufman)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: It's Riddle Night!
Date: 15 Nov 89 03:41:06 GMT
Reply-To: kaufman@gmu90x.UUCP (Ken Kaufman)
Organization: George Mason University, Fairfax, Va.
Status: O

A short description for those of you who haven't had the pleasure of
reading "Pyotr's Story"  or "Involuntary Man's Laughter," Riddle Night
is another of those wonderful traditions at Callahan's.  A riddle-master
(the role I'll be performing tonight) creates a series of "riddle
puzzles" for the other patrons to solve.  Jake, through Spider, refers
to these as being in the "invisible idiot" format, where "invisible
idiot" translates to "Out of sight, out of mind."

Clues are separated by commas, unless they relate to different words,
in which case semicolons are the delimeters.  For example:
"large fish; luna, caviar" ==> "marlin; moon, roe" ==> "Marilyn Monroe."
As usual, beware of puns.

I will present four appropriate categories for this first Riddle Night,
each with six puzzles whose answers belong to the category.  (I warn
you, Category IV may be stretching things a bit, but I have faith in
your abilities.  Has anyone given Doc Webster an account?)  Between now
and 9 AM  on Tuesday November 21st, I will be awarding one point for
each correct answer or correct category identification to the first
person I receive it from, either via posting or email, with ties being
broken by timestamp.  The person winding up with the most points can be
the next riddle-master.

I'll post the answers next week.  And perhaps I will soon introduce
myself with a toast.

Enjoy!
Ken Kaufman (kaufman@gmu90x.gmu.edu)

--------------------------------------------------------------------

		I
Tend, Assassin
AgaiNst, Alaska town, Myself
Cantaloupe, Lassie; Fitzgerald, Typefaces
Inform, Printer's measure, Trail
Spice; Less stale
Juice turkey; Not on; Detergent; Western trailers, Political speech; Planets

		II
Destroy; Color, Othello; Fake
Hanging rope; 28.4 grams; Limp
Wallop; Croon, Sea birds
Stop; Denominations; Secret agent, Rim
Policeman; Irritated, Female sibling; Didn't lose, Didn't lose or win
Converse; One dull speaker, Tibia

		III
Bovaries; Uno y uno
Spinners; Finn's creator, Joint
Sheep, Cuts
Churchill's gesture, Advanced Degree
Ship body, Kids' cereal
Callahan, Caviar, Knight, Judging panel

		IV
Scratch; Imbibe; Shorlines; In shape, Oolong; Detect
Gained; Barbie, Ancient town; Requests for payment; Possess, Jeans brand
Negative; Make like a happy cat, Ogling
At what time, remains; Driving expense; Formalwear; Darkness
Have access to a fact; Only, Bellows; Unrefined rocks; Law test; Feces
German meat; Wordplay, Budges; Beverages; Home run king; Archaic you; home

From: kaufman@gmu90x.gmu.edu (Ken Kaufman)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Riddle Night Winners and Answers
Date: 16 Nov 89 16:19:56 GMT
Reply-To: kaufman@gmu90x.UUCP (Ken Kaufman)
Organization: George Mason University, Fairfax, Va.
Summary: a bit early
Status: O

You guys are good!  Between the bunch of you, you've knocked off my
blackboard full of fun, so I'll post the answers earlier than originally
planned (after the ^L, so that anyone who wants to keep working on them
won't have them spoiled; meanwhile, keep those cards and liters coming!)

First the accolades for a few of the top performances (it should be
noted that every single person who submitted answers did a really good
job, and at least got a few right.  Come by and claim your drinks.)

The early-bird special goes to a patron going by the name of Shadow, who
cleared about a third of the board before many of you were even seated.
(In order to simulate a blackboard with answers going up, I had to give
the actual points to the first correct answers; nonetheless, those who
figured the whole set out independently deserve oodles of credit.
Speaking of which:)

Closest to a clean sweep of the board goes to William Somsky, who not
only cracked the surprisingly elusive category II and discovered the
complete answer to IV(5), he even half-stumbled over the answer to I(5) when
he had no idea.

And BD from Ohio State deserves a few glasses in the fireplace for being
the first to figure IV(5) out and for (along with Gary at Clarkson)
snuffing out the stinker inherent in III(6).

But first prize, with only 3 misses, and breaking open categories II and
III with a near-sweep and a complete sweep, not to mention his
outsmarting the Riddle-Master on II(5) (see below) goes to Marc Shapiro
(m6s@PSUVM.BITNET).  You want to run the next one?

And now for answers and analyses (SPOILERS below) ...
Ken Kaufman (kaufman@gmu90x.gmu.edu)

I:  Books by Spider Robinson.  I was lenient and allowed "stories",
"non-Callahan books" (that holds true), and even "novels", which three
of them aren't.  But that shouldn't affect scores ...

>Tend, Assassin
 ==> Mind, Killer ==> Mindkiller

>Against, Alaska town, Myself
 ==> Anti, Nome, Me/I ==> Antinomy

>Cantaloupe, Lassie; Fitzgerald, Typefaces
 ==> Melon, Collie; Ella, Fonts ==> Melancholy Elephants.
	Nearly everyone got this one right.

>Inform, Printer's measure, Trail
 ==> Tell, Em, Path ==> Telempath

>Spice; Less stale
 ==> Thyme; Fresher ==> Time Pressure

>Juice turkey; Not on; Detergent; Western trailers, Political speech; Planets
 ==> Baste; Off; All; Posse, Bull; Worlds ==> Best of all Possible Worlds
	Unfortunately out of print.

II:  I'm surprised this one stumped so many of you, as only two
respondants followed on this "Grand Tour of USENET" ...

>Destroy; Color, Othello; Fake
 ==> Wreck; Hue, Moor; Phony ==> rec.humor.funny
	#1 on the arbitron hit parade.

>Hanging rope; 28.4 grams; Limp
 ==> Noose; An ounce; Impotent ==> news.announce.important

>Wallop; Croon, Sea birds
 ==> Sock; Sing, Gulls ==> soc.singles

>Stop; Denominations; Secret agent, Rim
 ==> Halt; Sects; Bond, Edge ==> alt.sex.bondage

>Policeman; Irritated, Female sibling; Didn't lose, Didn't lose or win
 ==> Cop; Sore, Sis; Won, Tied ==> comp.sources.wanted
	Except Marc found (and got a bonus karma point for):
	==> Cop; Soft, Sys; Won, Drew ==> comp.soft-sys.andrew
	I was trying to be a bit less obscure.

>Converse; One dull speaker, Tibia
 ==> Talk; A bore, shin ==> talk.abortion

III:  Operating systems of one type or another ...

>Bovaries; Uno y uno
 ==> Emmas; Dos ==> MS/DOS
	Should I be proud of how few of you got this one compared to
	the next few?

>Spinners; Finn's creator, Joint
 ==> Tops; Twain, Knee ==> TOPS-20
	Nobody seemed confused as to which Finn.

>Sheep, Cuts
 ==> Ewe; Nicks ==> UNIX

>Churchill's gesture, Advanced Degree
 ==> Vee, M.S. ==> VMS

>Ship body, Kids' cereal
 ==> Hull, Trix ==> ULTRIX

>Callahan, Caviar, Knight, Judging panel
 ==> Mike, Roe, Sir, Jury ==> Microsurgery
	After all, there have been bookstores who've placed OS books
	under Medicine.  And you've got to admit, it *is* an operating
	system.

IV:  House rules at Callahans ...

>Scratch; Imbibe; Shorlines; In shape, Oolong; Detect
 ==> Itch; Drink; Coasts; Fit, Tea; Sense ==> Each drink costs 50 cents.

>Gained; Barbie, Ancient town; Requests for payment; Possess, Jeans brand
 ==> Won; Doll, Ur; Bills; Own, Lee ==> $1 Bills only
	Many tripped over the right ancient town, but got it anyhow.

>Negative; Make like a happy cat, Ogling
 ==> No; Purr, Eyeing ==> No prying!

>At what time, remains; Driving expense; Formalwear; Darkness
 ==> When, Stays; Toll; Tails; Night ==> Wednesday's Tall Tales Night.

>Have access to a fact; Only, Bellows; Unrefined rocks; Law test; Feces
 ==> Know; Mere, Roars; Ore; Bar; Stools ==> No mirrors or bar-stools.
	Some only found one environmental requirement.

>German meat; Wordplay, Budges; Beverages; Home run king; Archaic you; Home
 ==> Wurst; Pun, Stirs; Drinks; Aaron; Thee; House
     ==> Worst punster's drinks are on the house.
	... but at least it never rains on Callahan's roof.