Welcome to The Shrubbery - the place for schemers, plotters and planners. Those just wanting to have a good time are welcome as well as long as the empties are cleared away afterwards.
We are now into week 3 of Manx Queenie's challenges for the MM Links Game. She will once again reveal some biographical details before revealing her 4 challenge words. Some of her links have been rather elusive so far and players are struggling to get on her wavelength. Maybe this week will be the one where you click?
The introduction will be posted at 8:45am in Q&P, followed at 9:00 with her 4 challenge words. You have to guess what words he has chosen to pair with these to form a well-known word or phrase. To make it easier, they are all from 4 to 8 letters long. Anyone can play, so join in whenever you want to but early players stand more chance of bonus points.
My role in this is as coordinator and scorer for the MM game, but that nearly didn't happen last weekend because I was struck down by a nasty 'flu' bug and spent several days in bed. I am now mostly recovered and should be on top of things once again. Looking back, I am surprised that I managed as well as I did under the circumstances - just a couple of bonus points missed off which will be remedied on Sunday's scoreboard.
Dont forget our sister game, the KM Links based on Kate Mepham's GK crosswords in the Saturday/Monday Telegraph. That game is run by Seekeerz from Australia and kicks off at 7am. Don't worry about the early start there, the bonus points are not time-sensitive in that game.
The shrubbery is now open - there is no bar, so it is strictly BYOB. For those with pockets extending beyond 'screwtops', they will find a corkscrew behind the Heliconia (where else?).
Pauline, Does that 'cunning plan' involve the use of your dungeon implements? If so, they are unlikely to work as ManxieMo has this week been undergoing training in techniques for resisting torture.
No need to worry Gen2, I am sure that Manxiemo knew to take some garlic and Holy Water with her before staying at the Stockpot - mark you the garlic could have come in handy to help flavour Rosa's cooking!
Good evening all, I'm finding it a bit difficult to reach the shrubbery tonight as I'm in a wet and windy Northern Ireland, but flying home tomorrow hopefully in time to post my links at my usual time (about 1.00 a.m.!)
Thanks Pauline. When we flew over on Monday we thought that we would be blown all the way by the end of the hurricane, but it was one of the best flights and landings we've had for a long time.
Do you need any extra thumbscrews or iron maidens?
I managed to get a round of golf in on Wednesday afternoon, dodging the showers, and yesterday wasn't too bad, but as for the rest of the week, especially today, it would have been cruel to cats and dogs had it been raining them!!!