Category: Annual Treasure Hunt

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7th Annual Treasure Hunt – Results

Dear all, thanks for your patience in waiting more than expected to get the results of the Hunt. Between some personal problems (I might hint that perhaps the machinations of a certain “M” are behind an unfortunate recent string of events) and the fact that many of you sumbmitted alternative answers that required a lot of time for checking and evaluation, I’m some days late: it took me twenty days when I though ten would be enough. I can only offer my humble apologies. Here are the results:

Individual Competition 

Michael Ellis (“Lobo”) has once again achieved the highest score, winning the High Honors with 56,5 points of the 60 available. Second place goes to Enrico Solito (“Devon”), who earns Honors in this category with 53 points.

Following the leaders, we have Carmen Savino with 51,5 points, Joanna Freeman (“Mia”) with 49 points, and Mark Doyle with 48 points. A mention for Alessandro Melillo, who only 24 hours before the end of the hunt realized that time was almost over and put in a valiant effort, scoring 9,5 points out of the only 10 answers he submitted.

Team Competition

Only two teams competed this year and it was a very close call. I had to examine carefully every single alternate answer and decide. The High Honors go to “The Quartered Flag” with 58,5 points; team members are Paul Thomas Miller (“Buck”) and Brad Keefauver (“Calder”).  Honors go to “The Sound of the Baskervilles” team with 57,5 points; team members are Sheila Holtgrieve (“Daisy”), Cameron Brandon, Sunny Even, Ron Lies (”Chips”) and Nancy Holder (“Diana”).

I have prepared a list of the alternative answers that have been accepted and some of those that, in spite of their sometimes wonderful and most entertaining mental effort, I had to reject. See below for the link to the file.

Let me thank all the participants for their contribution. If I were prone to exaggeration, I could say that it took me almost the same amount of time to check the many ingenious alternative answers than it took me to prepare the Hunt! But that forced me dive deep into the Canon again, and that’s always a good thing.
I must also say that I have gained some important hints from this year’s experience. Some questions were too broad and generic, others were good but could have been better worded. I hope that next time that I’ll act as Quiz Master I will remember to make use of what I’ve learned.

I hope you enjoyed the Hunt anyway and to see even more participants next time!

With my warm congratulations and regards,
Michele Lopez (“Reggie”)

Alternate_answers_acceptedDownload
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7th Annual Treasure Hunt – Answers

Hunters, dear fellow Watsonians, quiz fans,

The 7th Annual Treasure Hunt is now officially closed. I hope you had fun and you liked the questions that I have tried to put together.

We had a good number of participants; perhaps not many groups (only two answers received in that category) but we had six participants for the individual competition.

Hereunder you will find the answers enclosed. I will check the answers in the next days and the results will be posted here by the 12th of September.

The John H Watson Society 2019 Treasure Hunt – questions and answers
The John H Watson Society 2019 Treasure Hunt – questions and answers

With my best regards,
Michele a.k.a. “Reggie”
2019 Treasure Hunt Master



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The 7th Annual Treasure Hunt is open!

Hunters, dear fellow Watsonians, quiz fans,

The 7th Annual Treasure Hunt has officially opened at midnight, July 31st, PDT. I have chosen the hour as an homage to our other Treasure Hunt Master, Margie Deck a.k.a. “Mopsy” and to our Beth Gallego, a.k.a. “Selena Buttons”, who both live on the Pacific coast. You can submit your answers until midnight, August 31st, PDT. For further details, please check the Rules page.

A forum has been opened on the Quiz page for questions, clarifications, complaints, etc.  I will try to respond to any postings as quickly as possible. I will also answer to the email address treasurehunt@johnhwatsonsociety.com.
Clarifications and answers to requests will be posted to the forum.  Please check it for updates every now and then.

As I have already said, the hunt is scored on a very simple point system; 1 correct answer = 1 point, for a maximum of 60 points available. However, many questions are composed of multiple parts, so if you know part of a question (e.g. Who?), but not the other part (e.g. When? Where?), please add the part you do know to your document.  You will receive credit for each individual part of the question that is answered correctly, so 0.5 points will be awarded for partly answered questions.

I have uploaded the Treasure Hunt both in Microsoft Word (.doc) and in .pdf.
Please see the rules page for instructions for submitting your answers.

The game, ladies and gentlemen, is afoot. Happy Hunting!

Michele a.k.a. “Reggie”
2019 Treasure Hunt Master

The John H Watson Society 2019 Treasure Hunt – questions

The John H Watson Society 2019 Treasure Hunt – questions

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TH7 Discussion Forum

“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

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TH7: Third Warm Up Quiz – Answer

Dear friends,

the last warm up quiz was well received and, as usual, the sharp brains of the Watsonians came up easily with the correct answer.
The quickest was Beth, our “Selena Buttons”. Correct answers were also sent by Paul Miller “Buck” and by the SOB team (who, in their typical fashion, sent a more elaborate and ingenious explanation than necessary). Ron Lies “Chips” explored another possibility, and he went close but not quite on the mark.

Here is the answer to the quiz:
“It could be rampant or couchant, and it was also the victim of a fish. What are we talking about?”

The answer is: a lion. There is a rampant lion in VALL, a crouching lion in SECO and Count Negretto Sylvius, that Holmes described as a fish, used to shoot lions in Africa.
«Just beyond were two ancient stone pillars, weatherstained and lichen-blotched bearing upon their summits a shapeless something which had once been the rampant lion of Capus of Birlstone.» (VALL)
«“There is a seal of red wax stamped with a crouching lion.”» (SECO)
«“And is this Count Sylvius one of your fish?”
“Yes, and he’s a shark. He bites.”» (MAZA)
«“Come now, Count. You used to shoot lions in Algeria.”» (MAZA)

Congratulations to all and see you in ten days for the start of the Hunt!

Michele Lopez
2019 Treasure Hunt Master

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TH7: Tips and Tricks

Dear friends,

The seventh Annual Treasure Hunt is due to begin in less than two weeks, so I think this is a good moment to give all participants some pointers about what to expect and how to get ready to face the challenge.

The rules of the hunt can be found, as usual, on the Rules page, and there is a page with the main resources that will be necessary.

This year’s hunt will be composed of 60 questions divided in ten sections. One of these sections is composed of chain questions, like those of last year’s hunt. For some questions in this section, you will be occasionally required to skip back and/or forth a certain number of pages; therefore, a 1930 Doubleday edition facsimile (or the equivalent Penguin edition with the same page numbering) is a necessary resource. You can alternatively use one of the free online versions of the Canon where the Doubleday page number is indicated in brackets (such as http://ignisart.com/camdenhouse/canon/).

Some questions (not many) will require the use of sources of extra-Canonical informations, such as a good annotated edition, a Canonical index, or a “mainstream” encyclopedia. Your favorite Internet search engine and Wikipedia will also be very useful.

The hunt is scored on a very simple point system: 1 correct answer = 1 point, for a maximum of 60 points available. However, many questions are composed of multiple parts, so if you know part of a question (e.g. Who?), but not the other part (e.g. When? Where?), please add the part you do know to your document.  You will receive credit for each individual part of the question that is answered correctly, so 0.5 points will be awarded for partly answered questions.

Coming to a point that caused some discussions and misunderstandings in the past, 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”.

Let me give you a couple of example taken from last years’ Hunts:

(TH6, #40) «Many of the neighbors to [one of the houses in number 39] may have lived icily distant from it, but once Watson protested to Holmes that, as a matter of fact, it was there, and should not be tampered with. What it? [1pt] Where did Watson insist it was? [1pt]»

The answer is “Romance”, and the reference is to the passage in WIST, 882: «The other mansions belonged to prosaic and respectable people who live far aloof from romance.» In this case, “icily distant” is used as a hint to “far aloof”. Had the question included the words “far aloof”, a 10-second electronic search would have given the answer. No fun in that!

(TH5, #40) «The minister and the squire were equally able to control their rage. Name the men and the stories.»

The answer is “Lord Bellinger and Von Bork”, with reference to the passages in  SECO, 652  «“I am not accustomed, sir,” he began, but mastered his anger and resumed his seat» and LAST, 976 «Von Bork had mastered his anger» where “to control one’s rage” is used as a synonym of “to master one’s anger”.

Finally, I have tried to make a mix of easy and hard questions. On the whole, this should be an easier hunt than the one I did in 2017. So, if you find a question to which an answer seems too easy to be the correct one, the odds are that it probably is! At least five or six questions should be very transparent and straighforward to the experienced student of the Canon.

As usual, a forum shall be opened for the duration of the Hunt where you can submit requests for clarification of any doubtful point. I will also be available at the e-mail address treasurehunt@johnhwatsonsociety.com.

Happy Hunting!
Michele Lopez
2019 Treasure Hunt Master

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TH7: Third and Last Warm Up Quiz

Dear fellow members,

The game is (almost) afoot. The seventh Annual Treasure Hunt, composed of 60 Canonical questions, is almost ready. I hope that you will have fun.

The Hunt will open on midnight, July 31st, PST, corresponding to 9 a.m., August 1st, (CET) here in Italy. You can submit your answers until midnight, August 31st, PST.

As I already said two years ago, I must stress the fact that I am not a native English speaker, and so there may be obscurities and imperfactions regarding the form of the questions. I will of course be ready to help and clarify anything that might result in a misunderstanding on the meaning of certain expressions in the quiz.

In the meantime, please enjoy the third and last “appetizer” question for the Hunt:
“It could be rampant or couchant, and it was also the victim of a fish. What are we talking about?”

Since we are very near to the beginning of the Hunt, you have time to submit your answers to treasurehunt@johnhwatsonsociety.com until July 21st, 2019.

Happy Hunting!
Michele Lopez
2019 Treasure Hunt Master
JHWS “Reggie”, BSI “Attenta, Pericolo”

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TH7: Second warm up quiz – Answer

Dear fellow Watsonians,
we didn’t receive a great response to the second “Appetizer” quiz. In fact, we only had one. I suppose that the Easter holidays kept many people away.

“An excess of frankness could make it sink. What?”

Answer: Sherlock Holmes’s “poor little reputation”.

«“I begin to think, Watson,” said Holmes, “that I make a mistake in explaining. ‘Omne ignotum pro magnifico,’ you know, and my poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I am so candid.”» (REDH, 177)

Congratulations to Cameron Brandon on behalf of The Sound of the Baskervilles who sent the only and correct answer.

See you for the next preliminary quiz. Happy Hunting!
Michele Lopez
2019 Treasure Hunt Master
JHWS “Reggie”

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TH7: Second Warm Up Quiz

Dear fellow Watsonians,
here’s the second “Appetizer” quiz that will be published before the Hunt. I hope that it will be challenging and stimulating.

“An excess of frankness could make it sink. What?”

Since it’s a busy period for many of us, what with Sherlockian conventions and other things (221B Con starts in Atlanta tomorrow) you have time until after the Easter holidays to submit your answers to: treasurehunt@johnhwatsonsociety.com.
Please send your email within April 23rd, Tuesday.

Happy Hunting!
Michele Lopez
2019 Treasure Hunt Master
JHWS “Reggie”, BSI “Attenta, Pericolo”

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2018 Treasure Hunt Six Results

‘The ideal reasoner,’ he remarked, ‘would, when he has once been shown a single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the chain of events which led up to it, but also all the results which would follow from it.’

Hello Watsonians—

The month of August is, as always, Treasure Hunt month for the John H Watson Society. Knowing the many hours required to finish the Treasure Hunt, we are always gratified to see the number of entries submitted. After many hours of scoring today with the help of Sheila Holtgrieve (JHWS ‘Daisy’), I am happy to announce the results of TH6: Every Link Rings True.

Individual Competition 

For the third consecutive year, High Honors in the difficult Individual Category goes to Michael Ellis with 70 points of the 74 available. Denny Dobry earns Honors in this category with 66 points.

Two competitors new to the individual category earned our O.V.E. (Order of the Valiant Effort) Award: Brad Keefauver with 52 points, and Carmen Savino with 50 points.  Honorable Mention to first time participant Paul Thomas Miller and returning competitor Gerry Turnbull who each earned 35 points before their time ran short.

Team Competition

Returning team ‘Experience of Canon’ earns High Honors in the team category with 66 points; team members are Beth Gallego, Paul Hartnett, and Ron Lies.  Honors go to the ‘Uno Studio in Holmes’ team with 65 points; team members include Stefano Guerra, Michele Lopez, Vera Mazzotta, Gianluca Salvatori, and Enrico Solito.

O.V.E. awards in this category go to ‘The Retired Beekeepers of Sussex’ with 60 points, and the ‘Sound of the Baskervilles’ with 58 points.  The Beekeepers team members are Elinor Gray, Rowan MacBean, and Cheryl LeBlanc-Weldon.  Cameron Brandon, Lauren Messenger, Sunny Even, and Francis Bond represented the SOBs.

We send a Shout-Out to our Treasure Hunt friend Anne Nelson who managed 16 points while traveling across South Korea; she said she plans to finish it just for the fun of it after she returns home.  “Just for the fun of it” is music to the Treasure Hunt master’s ears.

Thank you all for joining in the fun.  I send many thanks to Sheila Holtgrieve for her proof-reading and scoring research assistance; as always, her good humor and phenomenal Canon knowledge made the work enjoyable. I will be contacting all the participants concerning addresses for the delivery of the small mementos.  You will find the answers attached.

I have enjoyed serving as Treasure Hunt Master this year. I appreciate your participation, patience and good humor.

Margie Deck

JHWS/ ‘Mopsy’

2018 TH6 Answers

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48 Hours and those unfinished Treasure Hunts

Things have taken a turn which I could not have anticipated. In some ways they have within the last forty-eight hours become much clearer and in some ways they have become more complicated. But I will tell you all and you shall judge for yourself.

Hello Treasure Hunters–

We are now just shy of 48 hours (Hawaii Standard Time) from the end of the 2018 Treasure Hunt.  If you find yourself a few answers short near the deadline, I hope you will submit the work you have.  Many participants do not finish, and that is okay.  We want to acknowledge your effort, finished or unfinished.

If you can not bring yourself to submit an incomplete document, please do send me a brief email telling me about your experience.  It is always helpful and encouraging to hear from anyone who gave it a try.

Results will be posted as quickly as possible.  Like our good doctor wrote to Holmes concerning the  mission at Baskerville Hall: ‘I will tell you all.’

Margie/ JHWS ‘Mopsy’

treasurehunt@johnhwatsonsociety.com

 

 

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Ten day countdown to the end of Treasure Hunt 6

‘It was a prosaic way of forming a friendship, but it was effective. I was laid by the heels for ten days, and Trevor used to come in to inquire after me.’

Hello Treasure Hunters–

We are now ten days out from the end of TH6:EveryLinkRingsTrue.  The forum has been strangely quiet; I am unsure if that silence is good news or a bad omen.  Hopefully it means hunters are having success and do not need any clarifications from me.

Finished hunts are accepted at treasurehunt@johnhwatsonsociety.com until it is no longer August in any (earthly) time zone.  If you haven’t started yet, there is still time to play.  [The first submissions for this year were received in the first ten days or so of the month!]

In the meanwhile, I shall be here, laid by the heels, awaiting your responses.

Margie/ JHWS ‘Mopsy’

 

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The 2018 Treasure Hunt is on!

Hello Treasure Hunters!

It is now August 1, 2018, in India; in honor of our returning competitors from The Sherlock Holmes Society of India, I am posting the 2018 Treasure Hunt now although it is not quite August 1 for many of us.

As always, a forum has been opened on the Quiz page for questions, clarifications, complaints, etc.  I will respond to any postings as quickly as possible. It is possible you will find an error despite many hours of proofing/checking.  If you do not, thank Sheila Holtgrieve (JHWS Daisy) for her excellent proof-reading. If you do find errors, I am at fault as I continued to make small changes to the document after she finished proofing.  Any needed corrections will be posted to the forum.  Please check it from time to time.

Please don’t forget the hunt is scored on a point system.  Therefore, if you know part of a question (Who?), but not the other part (What?), please add the part you do know to your document.  You will receive credit for each individual part of the question that is answered correctly. Point values are clearly marked on the document.

I have uploaded the Treasure Hunt in Microsoft Word (.docx) and in .pdf. Please see the rules page for instructions for submitting your finished hunt.  Answers will be accepted until it is no longer August 31 anywhere in the world.

Ok, on you go…Happy Hunting!

Margie/ JHWS ‘Mopsy’

2018 TH6 Questions

2018 TH6 Questions

 

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“If the cycle of nine days holds good” [CREE]

Prepare your thinking cap and get out your favorite Sherlockian reference books. Nine days from today, we will begin the Sixth Annual John H Watson Society Treasure Hunt.

Our “Mopsy” has designed this year’s Hunt as a special edition of 50 questions, the answers to all of which form a chain from one to the next.

Several teams have already let our Treasure Hunt Master know they’ll be competing, but individuals and teams around the world are welcome to jump in any time during the month of August!

‘It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings true.’

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TH6: Every Link Rings True warm up game results

Hello Watsonians–

As Friday the 13th is upon us, the time for submitting responses to the TH6: Every Link Rings True warm-up game has passed.  Correct answers for this quiz — brilliantly re-named by Paul Hartnett as ‘The Singular Warm Up of the Three Canonical Percys’– were submitted by two individuals, and one team practicing for the real thing.

Congratulations to:

Paul Hartnett/ JHWS ‘Scout’

Michele Lopez/ JHWS ‘Reggie’

Sound of the Baskervilles 2018 Treasure Hunt Team– Lauren Messenger, David Haugen, Sondra Even

The answers are found below.

Many thanks for your time and attention,

Margie/ JHWS ‘Mopsy’

1–Find the exciting professional expert who generated considerable interest in his work. Who?

Answer: Percy Trevelyan

After I had graduated I continued to devote myself to research, occupying a minor position in King’s College Hospital, and I was fortunate enough to excite considerable interest by my research into the pathology of catalepsy, and finally to win the Bruce Pinkerton prize and medal by the monograph on nervous lesions to which your friend has just alluded… ‘You are the same Percy Trevelyan who has had so distinguished a career and won a great prize lately?’ said he.  (RESI)

2–With Holmes’s questioning description of [ the answer to number one] in mind, find the ahead-of-Watson smart boy who went to college. Who?

Answer: Percy Phelps

During my school-days I had been intimately associated with a lad named Percy Phelps, who was of much the same age as myself, though he was two classes ahead of me. He was a very brilliant boy, and carried away every prize which the school had to offer, finishing his exploits by winning a scholarship, which sent him on to continue his triumphant career at Cambridge.  He was, I remember, extremely well connected and even when we were all little boys together, we knew that his mother’s brother was Lord Holdhurst, the great Conservative politician.  This gaudy relationship did him little good at school; on the contrary, it seemed rather a piquant thing to us to chevy him about the playground and hit him over the shins with a wicket.  (NAVA)

3–Consider [the answers to numbers one and two], and then find the friend who fails to make eye contact, and, therefore, fails his fiancee. Who?

Answer: Percy Armitage

The very horror of my situation lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it as the fancies of a nervous woman.  He does not say so, but I can read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes… A month ago, however, a dear friend, whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage – Percy Armitage – the second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading.  My stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to be married in the course of the spring. (SPEC)

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A little extra help for the TH6 warmup game

Hi Watsonians–

I’ve received a couple of good responses to the warmup game.  Our players are getting a little tripped up with question three–which makes perfect sense as question three is a bit tricky, and this quiz style is different than our norm.

When working on the actual hunt, you would have a question number 4 that would link back to number 3–giving you more information to help you with number 3 should you need it.  Here is a sample of a possible ‘Question 4’ for this game:

4. The fiancee of [the answer to number three] lives with a man who is crushed by a huge debt. Who is the man?

The game is open through the 13th.

Good luck!

Margie/ JHWS ‘Mopsy’

 

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Kindly whisper “Norbury” in my ear…and the first TH6 warm up game

Hi Watsonians–

I recently posted the first warm up game for the upcoming Treasure Hunt; however, today I realized I posted my first draft rather than the finished one.  Egad!

If you are interested in playing the first game, please find the finished questions below.  Please send answers to treasurehunt@johnhwatsonsociety.com by July 13–I am extending the date due to my error.

Your blushing Treasure Hunt Less-than-Master,

Margie/ JHWS ‘Mopsy’

1. Find the exciting professional expert who generated considerable interest in his work. Who?

2. With Holmes’s questioning description of [ the answer to number one] in mind, find the ahead-of-Watson smart boy who went to college. Who?

3. Consider [the answers to numbers one and two], and then find the friend who fails to make eye contact, and, therefore, fails his fiancee. Who?

 

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TH6: Every Link Rings True countdown, warm up one

Hi Watsonians,

We are now exactly four weeks away from the beginning of the 2018 Treasure Hunt.  After four months of work, the document is finished.  Many thanks to our ‘Daisy’, Sheila Holtgrieve, for serving as reader this year, spending considerable time reading and solving the finished hunt; her feedback was very helpful to me.  Her response is favorable, so I think we might be set.

To better acquaint you with the style/structure of this year’s 50-question hunt, I will post a few sample links for you to practice with.  You will find the first warm-up link below.

Drop me a note to treasurehunt@johnhwatsonsociety.com if you wish to play along; answers will be posted next Tuesday, July 10.

Thanks,

Margie/ JHWS ‘Mopsy’

“It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings true.”

1.  Find the exciting worker who generated considerable interest in his work. Who?

2.  With Holmes’s questioning description of [ the answer to number one] in mind, find the smart boy who went to college.  Who?

3.  Consider [the answers to numbers one and two], and then find the friend who fails to make eye contact, and, therefore, fails the lady. Who?

 

 

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TH6: Every Link Rings True 1-Question Pop Quiz Results & Answers

Hi Watsonians,

The 17th deadline for submissions for the 1-question pop quiz has passed, and the result feels a bit like the scene from “Casablanca”: Time to round up the usual suspects.  As before, Ron ‘Chips’ Lies and Sheila ‘Daisy’ Holtgrieve submitted perfect answers.

I hope a few more of you had some fun thinking about the possibilities.  Work continues on TH6: Every Link Rings True, and the final draft will be finished in a few weeks.  Having taken to heart the good response to the second TH warm up game, I am writing the hunt to closely match the style of the second game.

Time to get your teams ready!

Margie/ JHWS ‘Mopsy’

‘It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings true.’

TH6: Every Link Rings True 4th Warm Up Quiz: 1 Big Question

Holmes and Watson once had very similar solo experiences—many years apart. Their descriptions of their individual experiences were marked by eerily similar loneliness, mystery, shadows, sundown, and fauna.  Where was Watson? What year was Watson there? Where was Holmes? What year was Holmes there? What fauna?

Answer—

Holmes: Bathing Pool, beach at Sussex Downs/1907/Sea-birds

Watson: Moor/1889/Gull or Curlew

Holmes

Date: ‘ It occurred after my withdrawal to my little Sussex home …Towards the end of July 1907, there was a severe gale, the wind blowing up-Channel, heaping the seas to the base of the cliffs, and leaving a lagoon at the turn of the tide.’

Event: ‘From The Gables I walked down to the bathing pool. The sun had sunk and the shadow of the great cliff lay black across the water, which glimmered dully like a sheet of lead. The place was deserted and there was no sign of life save for two Sea-birds circling and screaming overhead. In the fading light I could dimly make out the little dog’s spoor upon the sand round the very rock on which his master’s towel had been laid. For a long time I stood in deep meditation while the shadows grew darker around me.’ (LION)

Watson

Date: ‘To James Mortimer, MRCS, from his friends of the CCH’, was engraved upon it, with the date ‘1884’…. What was he, then? If he was in the hospital and yet not on the staff, he could only have been a house-surgeon or a house-physician – little more than a senior student. And he left five years ago – the date is on the stick’  (1884 + 5 = 1889)*

(*We realize there is some disagreement among the chronologists with this dating but we are electing to believe Sherlock Holmes.)

Event: ‘The sun was already sinking when I reached the summit of the hill, and the long slopes beneath me were all golden-green on one side and gray shadow on the other. A haze lay low upon the farthest sky-line, out of which jutted the fantastic shapes of Belliver and Vixen Tor. Over the wide expanse there was no sound and no movement. One great grey bird, a gull or curlew, soared aloft in the blue heaven. He and I seemed to be the only living things between the huge arch of the sky and the desert beneath it. The barren scene, the sense of loneliness, and the mystery and urgency of my task all struck a chill into my heart.’ (HOUN)

 

 

 

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TH6: Every Link Rings True 1-Question Pop Quiz

Hello Watsonians,

I know I promised to be quiet for awhile, but while working on TH6 I came across an interesting serendipity.  While my happy discovery ultimately proved unworkable as part of the actual treasure hunt, it is perfect for a one-(big)-question pop quiz.  I hope you will agree, and decide to give this one a go.

Answers should be submitted to treasurehunt@johnhwatsonsociety.com no later than May 17.

Now, back to it…

Margie/  JHWS ‘Mopsy’

‘It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings true.’

Holmes and Watson once had very similar solo experiences—many years apart. Their descriptions of their individual experiences were marked by eerily similar loneliness, mystery, shadows, sundown, and fauna.

Where was Watson? What year was Watson there?

Where was Holmes? What year was Holmes there?

What fauna?

Helpful hint: Sherlock Holmes once told Dr. Watson: “We are moving in exalted circles.” Do not let the circles go over your head.