Tel GK/Herculis Links Game : December Week 1

[sarumite]

Yes it's the beginning of another month, and time to launch the Herculis Link Game for the month of December.

As all of you regulars are aware, ShamrockBlue is unable to continue in his administrative role owing to other commitments, so I have been asked to launch the thread to ensure that our not so little weekly diversion continues unabated!

For any newcomers to the game, (and all are most welcome), the object is to predict Monday's Herculis Linkwords in the Daily Telegraph, with the shaded solutions from Saturday's crossword.

Crofter will then award points for each correct guess this weekend, and also for the next four weekends, to determine the overall champion for the month. Let's hope that the beads on his abacus are well greased and in good working order!

After several weeks attempting to predict the correct links, it is perhaps a little surprising that nobody has yet managed to forecast all four �. is that about to be accomplished this week?? A permanent place in the AB annals and undoubted bragging rights surely await the first person to achieve this enviable distinction!!

If anyone is ready with this week's LINKS before I manage to fall out of bed on Saturday morning, I would be grateful if they could be posted here �. so let battle commence!

The very best of luck to you all : o)

[Aquagility]

Thanks once more, crofter, for all your hard work.

[rogerr]

Yes, Thanks Crofter for all the hard work.

[sarumite]

From the top to the bottom in one move .. I must be in freefall !! Really must try harder next time?

Thanks again to crofter for his sterling efforts, at long last he has been rewarded with a share of top place on the leader board ... but I will be gunning for him next week !

[jan1956]

nul points for me then. Like sarumite pu it down to free fall
must try harder next week or detention looms!
jan

[Phil7]

Thanks for those kind words, Crofter. I hope you noticed that my pack drill was timed equal to gen2 before a pack of others. <loud groans & fanfare of trumpets offstage - Oh, sorry. they're mine>

Seriously, tho', nice comp., great site - keep it up. :+}}

[crofter]

Oh Dear POINCIANA, I didn't say that YOU were a lunatic - I only meant that the choice of a 13-lettered word as a LINK WORD to fit a 15 by 15 square grid the following day was improbable (if not irrational). To date, I have only seen LINK WORDS of between 4 and 7 letters in length and I wished this to be noted by others.

In fact, your other three words had EVERY CHANCE of being chosen as they easy fit the general pattern shown in previous weeks. That's got to make you 75% rational and 25% (it is alleged) lunatic - that leaves (LUNAT)IC = IC to first order terms. To all crossword solvers, IC = In Charge.

But of course you're right - This for fun!
Hopefully, you will continue to bring you own unique brand of fun for many times yet. Think of my comments more as "honourable mention in despatches"!

A contrite crofter!

[crofter]

Phil7 I have just checked your entry and "Yes" the timings are the same. Hence, you did arrive at a new link word independently of gen2. What tough luck!

This happened to me with Jan a couple of weeks back. So you could have been an outright leader on 3 points!

Furthermore, one of your predictions was OIL (3 letters)!

Can you picture it? In a few weeks' time, all four Link Words will contain only 3 letters! Aargh!

[ontarioice]

Good Morning All, and a big welcome to Sarumite as he/she joins us in the 'Freefall Club,' we know exactly how you feel.
To Crofter Thanks once again for all your hard work. It is snowing outside (again) and we are actually below ZERO both in weather and in the Hercules links.
Just as a matter of interest. Two of our answers, incorrect as they were, were not used by anyone but ourselves which leads us to ask if there are no traffic SIGNS or fire DRILLS in the UK or is it - as you put it last week - 'cultural differences?' Believe me, this is not sour grapes, but a question asked on a 'wanting to know' basis.
Congratulations to Twosearch, Brizzer and Phil7. Remember, if you can't keep up the pace we and Sarumite will gladly admit you to our Freefall Club. No entry fee is necessary.
Must now pull on the winter boots and venture out to post my overseas Christmas mail. Brrrrrrrrr!

[gen2]

Thanks again crofter for your hard work.

Do you think Michael Mepham is aware of us trying to second guess him on here? Maybe he throws in links like 'journal' just to stymie us.

[sarumite]

Ontarioice it's a privilege to be accepted into the freefall club, although I feel certain that we will both make every effort to join the high flyers once again in the not too distant future!

With reference to you query concerning the isolated usage of two of your entries i.e. Traffic Signs and Fire Drills, I am a little surprised that they were not registered by any other ABer as they are also fairly phrases commonly used in the UK.

[sarumite]

... sorry typo above, last line should of course read " .... they are also phrases fairly commonly used in the UK "

[ontarioice]

Sarumite Yes, we will try to get back in with the high flyers and if that fails well! there's always the 'Mile High Club." :)

PS. Thanks for the info re the traffic signs and fire drills. It was surprising that no one else used them. Of course, considering the outcome, perhaps they all knew something that we didn't.

[crofter]

I would endorse that - especially when talking about FIRE DRILL. However, I think that it would be Traffic SIGNALS and Road SIGNS that we would say in the UK. In fact, I had already decided that if SIGNALS had come up then I would mark your SIGNS as correct.

This would be almost along the same lines as accepting SIGN and SIGNS as equivalent. Note, however, today I did not accept MOON Orbit as equivalent to LUNAR Orbit! They come from different roots.

Don't worry O-ice, I am keeping my eye on your Human Rights. You will not get penalised for cultural differences!

[JRB]

Thanks again crofter but I am not troubling the scorer much these days! Is Mike Mepham aware of our alternative competition? With FABLE PLAY last week and JOURNAL BEARING this week he is really pushing the envelope. At this level anyone who gets 3 right is genius level or else very lucky.

(Must do better, must do bettter)

[ontarioice]

Crofter
You have our full trust re Human Rights issues and Cultural Differences. You're doing a great job and we salute you.

[Magyar]

Well, what a glorious week. From being one of the few guessing at least one correct each week to a big fat ZERO this week, joining Sarumite as one of the strongest members (i.e. holding every body else up from the bottom of the table !). Still, there's always next week.

[crofter]

I was thinking the very same Magyar!
You must be getting "Hungary" for points!

[Christiana]

Have just returned from a weekend away and no opportunity to take part, so suffering from Herculis deprivation. Still at least I can say thanks to Crofter for taking all this on, and can console myself with the certain knowledge that journal bearing would not have been one of my guesses.

[crofter]

Christiana - You are just one of half a dozen regulars who look a break from the old routine over the weekend. I'm sure that you can begin playing catch-up next weekend!

It wasn't a high-scoring week!