Quiz time January 2021

Can't do any of them lol :D Sorry Sheila, I'm hopeless with crosswords.

No problem Hywel - I can’t do any of them either! They’re not supposed to be cryptic ... more like obscure general knowledge, with the answers connected to something “precious “. But thanks for commenting 🙂.

Sheila, we still have no answer for number 1. A real puzzler!!

Well Shirley, if that’s the only one you’re stuck on, you’re champs!

Julia and Sheila - your comments have made me smile! It took a lot of time and 'thinking outside the box' to answer many of them! Just keep remembering the theme is 'All Things Precious' . . . :o))

To be honest Sheila I am absolutely hopeless at crosswords, but that said my general knowledge is good, I remember the who wants to be s millionaire million pound question and screaming st the tele it’s a oak tree for the question what is a Quercus, the wife gave me a nudge and to calm down and stop getting hysterical.

Well that’s more than me Julia. Hywel has solved No.7, recognising the expression made by Alf GARNET from Till Death us do part (on tv many years ago).

Well done Hywel! I detested that programme . . . :o(

Julia, PM on the way and I don't mean Boris . . . :o)

Well done Julia! Please would you PM me your answers and put me out of my misery ... ?

Some people want extra headaches!

11. Replaced by Norway Spruce and Nordmann fir annually
(6,3)
12. 3Cu+Sn, 2Ag, 1? (2)
13. Trust Harry to catch it (6,6)
14. Workplace of a fake Wizard? (7,4)
15. Where Henty and Francis showed off (5,2,5,2,4)

I’ll be very impressed if any of these are solved ... haven’t the faintest idea what’s “precious” about these clues 🙂.

Morning Sheila, we have no answers for numbers 11 and 15.

For number 13 think of Harry Potter and for number 14 think of The Wizard of Oz!

Possible answer for number 12 is Au which is the alloy symbol for Gold - but we have no idea how we came to that answer!!

Hi Shirley, Meadowland has answered all these with 0.5 for no.12, but I haven’t yet worked out how to make that “precious”. She says Fraser Fir for no.11 and Field of Cloth of Gold for no.15.

You are both genius quizzers ... many thanks!

Sheila, I just read that Fraser Fir has green and SILVER needles so Julia seems right for that one. Still not sure on 0.12 though . . .

Many thanks to everyone who took part. The answers will be announced by the Rotary club on Monday (13th). So if there is anything driving you mad, just give me the number(s) and I will let you know. There were 100 questions in all, so I won’t be typing out the whole list!

Btw, OH thinks A Pelican by any other name (6,4) could be Greene King, i.e. the new name for a pub in Hitchin. So people living further afield wouldn’t stand a chance of solving that ... maybe he’s wrong, but I guess the setters wouldn’t have imagined us sharing their quiz far and wide.

That's great Sheila, and I wish to thank you for putting on the quiz over the past few years. It really has got the old grey matter working. How interesting re. The Pelican question.

We have not been able to answer numbers 10, 18, 21, 31, 38, 61, 62, 68, 71, 72 and 94.

Shirley,
94, Field of cloth of gold
71, Turquoise (anagram)
68, Ruby (singer Ruby Murray)
61, mother of Pearl (I think ... nacre anagram of carne)
38, peridot (anagram)
21, Arrow (book by RLS)
18, topaz (consecutive letters in clue)

But you did really well, Shirley. We couldn’t solve 31 or 72 either. I have to admire the setters for thinking up so many mystifying clues 🙂.

Many thanks for those answers Sheila . . . :o))