Tel GK/Herculis Links Game Oct 28th

[ShamrockBlue]

Saturday comes round awfully quick these days. Many of you will know the drill already, for anyone new looking in, the idea is to predict Monday's Herculis link words based on todays shaded solutions from the Telegraph GK crossword.New contestants very welcome.
If anyone would like to have a look at the rules and new scoring system, based on a lot of hard work by CROFTER, click on this link :
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Quizzes-and-Puz zles/Riddles/Question312705.html

Ok today's LINK words are :
SPACE : SECOND : RELIEF : SMITH

** Please post your answers here and not on the Riddles section.**
Good luck to all :)

[Argee2]

Space SHUTTLE
SPLIT Second
Relief MAPS
SILVER Smith

[crofter]

At this late stage, a quick count indicates that the variety of guesses has been awsome. There were about 30 different answers given for SPACE and SECOND, with nearly 20 different answers for RELIEF and SMITH. Hence points should be difficult to come by and "Mystic Meg" predicts that no-one will get all four.

And what are the popular answers? For SPACE, people are often opting for SHUTTLE and OUTER; and under SECOND, the popular answers are CHANCE and HAND. Given the link word RELIEF, entrants like the look of MAPS and COMIC; whereas for SMITH the ENTRANTS are suggesting BLACK and SILVER more often than not!

The past shows that the most popular answers are not always the winners. We are in the hands of the gods!!
Good Luck - you're going to need it!

[crofter]

Several people have three of the popular answers given above and therefore SHOULD be well placed. They include wickedtongue, Christiana, pollythecat, masterchef, Dee Sa, twosearch, ulysses100, gillwil, grahamb3629 and Argee2. Keep an eye on these (sorry if I've missed out any others) .

Let hte countdown begin!

[twosearch]

Evenin' all. This is the third time I've tried to post an entry.
Wassup?

SILVER SMITH
RELIEF MAP
SECOND CHANCE
OUTER SPACE

[kettledrum]

At this stage of the weekend I'm hard-pressed to find options that someone else hasn't previously used, but I'm going for
Space heater
Secind mortgage
High relief
Adam Smith

[kettledrum]

Sorry! That should have read second mortgage.

[crofter]

kettledrum You don't have to have four completely different guesses - you can share up to three quesses with anyone, but not the fourth guess. This rule is to stop two people sharing a "clean sweep" as outright winners!

I think that this comment is also aimed at Ramjet. This should make your choices easier to select.

Responding to the posting just above by twosearch, I have checked back and your first two attempts have been registered, so there is no need for your third attempt.

[keyboardix]

Hope I am not too late with:
Relief Road
Second-Hand
Outer Space
Black Smith

[kettledrum]

Thanks Crofter... I obviously phrased that badly...I was aware that I didn't have to have all 4 different guesses, but at this late stage my chances of winning anything may be enhanced by having 4 choices that haven't already been spoken for.

[crofter]

kettledrum Your logic was impeccable as things have worked out! Previous answers were naff!

[ShamrockBlue]

" Nobody said it would be easy "

Ok I hope i'm correct in saying that the LINKS are as follows :

COSMIC : RATE : VALVE : GRANNY .

Now it is over to Crofter , who will do his secret wizardy to produce the scores on the boards !

Thanks all for entering :)

[crofter]

This week caught us "on the hop" as it were!

Only the link that was spotted was GRANNY Smith - first suggested by JRB (2 points including bonus point) and picked up later by pjwillcox and (newcomer?) Ramjet!

EVERYONE else scored ZERO points!

Over TWO weeks, the maximum total scores are TWO points attained by nine entrants. There would be everything to play for under normal circumstances!

However, we wipe the slate clean and start afresh next MONTH.

What goes on our Report Card?
"Tries hard, could do better!"

[sarumite]

Thanks for all of your efforts crofter (and of course ShamrockBlue). The prediction of four correct links could turn out to be more elusive than winning the lottery.

In many ways the longer this situation continues the more interesting it will become, and if and when achieved, the winner will long be remembered in the answerbank "Hall of Fame"!!??

For myself I certainly "could do better" as I have yet to provide a correct link since the inception of our not so little diversion. (S).

[JRB]

Only one out of four but a BONUS point! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[Ramjet]

Hello everyone

Yes I was a newcomer to guessing the link words though have been using quizzes and puzzles for some time. As far as the crosswords go I can usually find my missing answers by trawling through other people's questions. A bit cheeky really but then I don't get round to finishing Saturday crosswords until half way through Sunday.

By the way I should have got relief VALVE as I collect and deal in old radio valves.

So here goes for November.

Anyhow my thanks to ShamrockBlue and Crofter for adding an interesting new dimension to the Telegraph crosswords.