Hi All–
‘Roxie’ (Sandy Kozinn) kindly reminded me that I failed to post the answers to the game when I posted the results last week. Sorry about that. Please see below.
Thank for the interest!
Margie/ JHWS ‘Mopsy’
1. According to Watson, Holmes never stood here. Where?
Answer: the dock
Such extenuating circumstances came out in the trial that the sentence, as will be remembered, was the lowest that was possible for such an offence. Sherlock Holmes was threatened with a prosecution for burglary, but when an object is good and a client is sufficiently illustrious, even the rigid British law becomes human and elastic. My friend has not yet stood in the dock. (ILLU)
2. Find the slip of a girl who prevented her friend from standing where Holmes never stood. Who?
Answer: Miss Morrison
It was not easy to pick one’s steps, but on the whole I was inclined to dismiss the idea that there had been anything between the Colonel and Miss Morrison, but more than ever convinced that the young lady held the clue as to what it was which had turned Mrs Barclay to hatred of her husband. I took the obvious course, therefore, of calling upon Miss Morrison, of explaining to her that I was perfectly certain that she held the facts in her possession, and of assuring her that her friend, Mrs Barclay, might find herself in the dock upon a capital charge unless the matter were cleared up. Miss Morrison is a little, ethereal slip of a girl, with timid eyes and blonde hair, but I found her by no means wanting in shrewdness and common sense. She sat thinking for some time after I had spoken, and then turning to me with a brisk air of resolution, she broke into a remarkable statement, which I will condense for your benefit. (CROO)
3. A lady with an identical surname to [the answer to question two] was mentioned only once as part of a well-baited trap. Who?
Answer: Annie Morrison
‘It is very much the sort of thing that I expected,’ said he. ‘Of course, we do not yet know what the relations may have been between Alec Cunningham, William Kirwan, and Annie Morrison. The result shows that the trap was skillfully baited. (REIG)
Tracey, Encyclopedia Sherlockiana, p. 248: Morrison, Annie, a woman mentioned in the note from the Cunninghams to William Kirwin, though her role in the case is uncertain.
4. A lady with the same first name as [the answer to question three] had a brother who did not think Holmes was very clever after all. Which brother?
Answer: Joseph Harrison
‘Of course you saw the “J. H.” monogram on my locket,’ said he. ‘For a moment I thought you had done something clever. Joseph Harrison is my name, and as Percy is to marry my sister Annie, I shall at least be a relation by marriage. You will find my sister in his room, for she has nursed him hand-and-foot these two months back. Perhaps we had better go in at once, for I know how impatient he is.’ (NAVA)
5. With the first name of [the answer to question four] in mind, look in the pocket and find the poet. Who?
Answer: Giovanni Boccaccio
‘’You’re sure it doesn’t simplify them?’ observed Holmes. ‘There’s nothing to be learned by staring at it. What did you find in his pockets?’ ‘We have it all here,’ said Gregson, pointing to a litter of objects upon one of the bottom steps of the stairs ‘A gold watch, No. 97163, by Barraud, of London. ..No purse, but loose money to the extent of seven pounds thirteen. Pocket edition of Boccaccio’s Decameron, with name of Joseph Stangerson upon the fly-leaf. Two letters – one addressed to E. J. Drebber and one to Joseph Stangerson.’ (STUD)
Wikipedia: Giovanni Boccaccio (/boʊˈkɑːtʃioʊ, bə-, -tʃoʊ/; Italian: [dʒoˈvanni bokˈkattʃo]; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375)[1] was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Boccaccio wrote a number of notable works, including The Decameron and On Famous Women. He wrote his imaginative literature mostly in the Italian vernacular, as well as other works in Latin, and is particularly noted for his realistic dialogue which differed from that of his contemporaries, medieval writers who usually followed formulaic models for character and plot.
Helpful hint: Do not look in Holmes’s pocket
‘No, sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be there in twenty minutes.’ (BOSC)
Thanks, and very cleverly done indeed!
My blushes! ?