“I should guess that to be the Something Hunt, the local hunt (…) which has made him a small presentation in return.” (HOUN)
This post is now open for clarifications/questions/discussions concerning the 7th Annual JHWS Treasure Hunt.
The Treasure Hunt will start on July 31st at midnight (PST) and will close on August 31st at midnight (PST).
This forum will remain open for the duration of the Hunt to discuss anything related to the questions.
Please do not post specific answers to any of the questions, not even as working hypotheses.
Any questions posted here for the Treasure Hunt Master will be answered as quickly as possible.
You can also get in touch directly with the THM by e-mail: treasurehunt@johnhwatsonsociety.com.
Happy Hunting!
Michele Lopez
2019 Treasure Hunt Master
What an elegant Treasure Hunt, Reggie. Fun (perhaps some frustration also) ahead! Daisy
Thank you Daisy! I hope you’ll all have fun!
I have already found a typo…
#56 Both these two beasts both could not bite, and so were useful to their owners. Which
two beasts?
Of course there is one “both” too much. Sorry.
In question 43 the question mentions:
“1.160 kms. (or 722 miles)”
Is this a typo (1.169km is 0.721 miles) or is the question evilly cryptic?
Whoops, sorry! It’s a misunderstanding that comes from our use of commas and dots for figures.
In Italy we write 1.160 to mean “one thousand, one hundred and sixty”, while in UK and USA that would be 1,160.
So the correct figure is: 1,160 kms (roughly equivalent to 722 miles). No evilly cryptic double meanings here! 🙂
Thanks!
Is it also safe to assume the “conoction”s in 55 should be “concoction”s?
Yes, of course, it’s another typo.
Cheers!
And thanks for a wonderful Treasure Hunt, too! I’m having a ball!
Hi ‘Reggie’–
The SOB team would like clarification on the wording on #60.
We are unclear if the word ‘near’ applies to both parts of the description of the man.
Our discussion is concerning interpretations of the sentence in these two ways—
Does the question mean the man once lived ‘near’ Victoria Station’ AND once lived ‘near ‘ where the celebrity met his destiny?
OR
Does it mean the man once lived ‘near’ Victoria Station and once lived exactly where the celebrity met his destiny.
Thanks for your help,
Mopsy
The interpretation is: the man had previously worked near Victoria Station and then went to live in the place where the celebrity met his destiny.
Ok, got it. He lived IN the place where the celebrity met his destiny, not NEAR it.
Thanks!
Right, but please consider that “place” in this context has a slightly broader meaning. E.G. If the exact place where the celebrity met his destiny was the Louvre Museum (spoiler: it is not :D) the man could be described as living in Paris. After all, it would be correct to say that the celebrity met his destiny in Paris.
Dear Reggie
congratulations. You are demoniac as always…
I have a question.
It seems to me that the question #14 is too vague and generic (I found a lot of solutions). Can we at least know if the persons are English or not?
Thanks for the reply and for the fun.
Enrico Solito (Devon)
Dear “Devon” and dear all, actually question #14 is a bit too generic and I should have formulated it differently. I’ll give some hints:
– the two persons are English who lived for some time in the southern part of another European country
– exactly the same words are used in the two cases to indicate the country.
Of course alternate answers are possible and will be judged “leniently”. 😀
Have a good time!
Well, that means our SOB answer is probably correct. We’ve been watching this to see if we needed to change our response. Whew!
Our team now has an answer for each question and we are in the review and edit stage.
The hunt has been good fun!
Mopsy
Dear all, my computer broke down today so expect some delays in answering your questions. I will try to follow this post from my phone.
Dear Reggie
is it possible to have an explanation of “cold pounded” in question *17? I have 4 possible candidates and this let me suspect my bad English is the reason…
Hi—
If it makes you feel any better, the SOB team struggled with this question as well. At one point we had eight answers! After much gnashing of teeth, we settled on two. Of course, any clarification you receive here will be of no use to us as we have already submitted, but it will be interesting to us nonetheless.
Good luck!
Mopsy
Dear Enrico and Margie,
sorry that you asked for clarifications right in this period when I didn’t have my PC available.
Now that I’m online again, let me point out, in answer to your request, this passage from my “tips and tricks” post:
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This is also the case in question #17, where “to have cold pounded into one’s cardiac muscle” is a different turn of phrase to indicate a similar expression used in the Canon with reference to two persons (the same expression for both, of course).
Maybe my choice of words has not been so good or a native English speaker may find it objectionable: in this case, the point for this answer will be awarded to everyone regardless of the concordance to my solution.
Hey Reggie—
Not objectionable at all— just challenging as we came away with two similar phrases in what appeared to be suitable situations involving several different people! It was hard to narrow it down. Such is life with the treasure hunt! ?
The passage has gone missing… here it is:
“there is usually a specific word or a group of words in each question that can be electronically searched, and that will lead you to the answer. This is what our other great Treasure Hunt Master, “Mopsy”, called a “hook”. However, if the “hook” was always explicit, it would take away from the fun of the game; the solution could always be found by simply putting words in a search engine and scanning the results. Therefore, the use of a synonym or a different turn of phrase will be often (not always!) used to mask the “hook”.
Dear Friends, we’re almost there! Less than two days to the end of the Hunt! Quick, if you want to send your answers!