Mm Links Results May 2014 Week 5

[gen2]

This week's MM Links game has now closed.
'King Cliffyg' brought an end to the month with the following links:-

CLIFF HANGER
DOG FIGHT
CRICKET GROUND
LOVE TRUE


A most successful game with the most points earned of any week in May (37).

I believe 'King Cliffyg' hid a few clues in his preamble but don't worry if you didn't find them - I couldn't find them all either! That is why I gave them all to you as a free gift on Friday evening in the 'Shrubbery' post. The last word in four successive sentences were the four links you were seeking! ( :-(( sadly you didn't spot them either.)

Scoring details follow below:

[gen2]

Roslyn251254, who had been struggling for points this month, kicked of with CLIFF HANGER while tearinghair, BigMac and Strix were all in time for the bonus so 2 points each.

Tearinghair, who has been on top form this difficult month, also claimed 2 points for discovering DOG FIGHT.

At 9:05, Seekeerz found her TRUE LOVE for 2 points.


There was then a short wait until twenty minutes into the game, Roopower turned up at the CRICKET GROUND.

Just single points for everything else but there were several double-hitters amongst them (5)

Obviously one of those five has to be my choice for 'Hotshot', so

***** HOTSHOT FOR *****
***** THIS WEEK IS *****
***** TEARINGHAIR ******
*** CONGRATULATIONS ***

for being top scorer as well.

In summary, this game's scorers were:

4 tearinghair
3 seekeerz
2 BigMac, elliemay1, Elspeth, rockfordill, roopower, roslyn251254, Strix & twix123
1 Baza, Brenden, CHRIS-Hewat, Christiana, eccles, Handbaglady, kawakiri, middlestump, Onty (Mr O), pixie373, Rockfordill (Mrs), SHAZZA-Hewat, ulysses100 & x-ray


Which, when added to the leaderboard leaves the top three positions unchanged

14 tearinghair
8 middlestump
7 Elspeth

So, for being way ahead of the rest, a very worthy winner of a difficult month:

*** THE CHAMPION FOR ***
* * * * * M A Y - I S * * * * *
****** TEARINGHAIR ******
**** CONGRATULATIONS ***

The remainder of the monthly scoreboard is:

6 rockfordill
5 seekeerz
5 Strix
4 baza
4 beejay1124
4 BigMac
4 Brenden
4 grannydi
4 kettledrum
3 Christiana
3 elliemay1
3 kawakiri
3 Onty (Mrs O)
3 owllady
3 pixie373
3 roopower
3 roslyn251254
3 twix123
2 boxtops
2 cupid04
2 evsajo
2 Handbaglady
2 Onty (Mr O)
2 Psybbo
2 rockfordill(MrsR)
2 SHAZZA-Hewat
2 ulysses100
1 Aquagility
1 CHRIS-Hewat
1 eccles
1 jobjockey
1 Nibble
1 x-ray


So now we have the problem of who to choose for the setter for June.

Under normal circumstances, I would be offering it to Tearinghair, but she kind of shot herself in the foot when she posted on Fri 16th May at 20:59


" If MM is coming to an end why don't you become the final setter for June I'm sure whoever wins the May links would be happy for that to happen. "

Accordingly, Yours Truly will set the June links. Not to bamboozle you - just a gentle run-down to the end. Consider it palliative care for the final weeks.
I realised that I have never done a biographically themed month so that is what to expect.

Until next week then:
Same time (9am)
Same place (Q&P)
Happy Linking
gen2

[gen2]

Looking to the future:

I have received a suggestion that I said I would air again on here (I previously posted it in Friday's Shrubbery http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Quizzes-and-Puzzles/Question1340364.html ).

As you are all aware by now, I will cease overseeing the MM Game game as from the end of June (KM Version continues as usual under the care of Seekeerz).

The suggestion is that each month, the setter also takes on the scoring and reporting for that month. At the end of the month, that would all pass over to the new setter.
Could it work? Will players be able/prepared to take it on?
Disadvantages: It would mean there would be no back-up in case of internet connection problems or any other emergency. There would be no help available to advise on links or assist with IT skills.

Think about it. There is still a month for someone to come forward and take it on.

[gen2]

And of course we mustn't forget to thank (King) Cliffyg (who now reverts to being a commoner once more) for providing the challenges throughout May. Great challenges of a variety of difficulties - kept everyone on their toes.
Thank you.

[tearinghair]

Thank you King Cliffyg for an interesting month. I hope you weren't too disappointed with the result of the Lord's match yesterday - I thought there was a smidgeon of promise there in the middle order?

And (hopping round with a hole in my foot) I'm really looking forward to your links next month, gen2. Is it too much to hope you'll be illustrating them with your photos?

[pixie373]

Thanks cliffyg and gen. I did spend some time looking for clues, but clearly missed most of them!
I work alternate weekends, so would find it hard to commit to anything too far ahead- our work hours change sporadically. I do think it's a shame for MM to go, but not sure what i could do to help. Possibly the scoring, if that can be done later on Sundays.
Feels right that you should do this month gen2 (with no offence to this month's winner). Xx

[grannydi]

Would it be easier and have more willing setters if we adopted the same format as KM links? i.e. No shot gun start. And points as per KM. If we said that the preamble and the link words were posted say sometime before 10.00am? Even the night before if the setter had work commitments. Timings could be posted in the 'shrubbery'. Just an idea I've had, I would be sad to see MM disappear.
Many thanks to all the setters over the last few years.
Grannydi.

[pixie373]

Good idea, grannydi. It's the precise timings i find difficult, whether setting or playing. I would be able to set on occasions (not that i ever win) if i could do so earlier some weeks.

[Aquagility]

Many thanks to Cliffyg for the month of May, and to Gen2 for all his hard work over many, many months.

I have to agree with grannydi's idea. It's quite hard (at my age) to get out of bed for a 9.00 start, let alone trying to get one's mind up and running. Which maybe why I've scored just 1 point this month! I too would hate to see MM go down the plug.

Meanwhile, I look forward to Gen2's autobiographical challenge.

[Psybbo]

I am so disappointed to miss the last week, son's laptop not working

[roopower]

Very pleased to get one right - I spent ages looking for the clues too! Thanks very much, cliffyg and gen2. Not sure I could run a game, unfortunately I'm barely computer literate.

[pixie373]

Is it worth a thread on CB for MM players- to see who would be prepared to set for a month, if they win and get other ideas? Before we give up?

[Psybbo]

Gen, I'll miss this, you ran a tight ship, thanks again xxx

[cliffyg]

deecee and i would help but from sept to april we are both at indoor cricket at 9am on saturdays
if double points didn't count i'm sure we would help

The hints were obviously not enough
This is “King Cliffyg”
Today England take on Sri Lanka at Lords the home of cricket. Cricket is a major part of my life. My own club Loughton, where I am Chairman is involved in training youngsters in schools and at our ground as part of a programme called Chance to Shine.
A young girl from Loughton has been invited to be the mascot for today’s game. So tune in and you will see her with the players at the toss.
As well as my wife children and grandchildren the other passion in my life is Jess our black Labrador. She is now ageing unlike the puppy picture of her on my profile. But she is still happy to have long walks and chase ducks, squirrels, rabbits, or DeeCee.

None of what I have done in life and particularly in retirement would have been possible without my wife Jo who has put up with me for nearly 42 years. After all these years we are still happiest at home cuddled up with a nice bottle of red wine watching an old film like High Society listening to Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly TRUE LOVE from HIGH SOCIETY

I will try to be more helpful this week we want a high scoring match both at Lords and on MM
Links.

It looks like we could have a dramatic and exciting ending CLIFF HANGER

It is a real melee and anyone could break clear of the pack and win DOG FIGHT

You will need to read carefully, be on the ball, and not be stumped by any red herrings
Don’t be misled as in this game fair play is paramount. It could be a test of your reasoning.
Look within and don’t go runnin G ROUND in circles.

If you are stuck open a bottle of red and listen to some music. TRUE LOVE - HIGH SOCIETY

Oh well I tried
Great fun and England nearly won and Loughton's young girl got plenty of TV coverage

[gen2]

@tearinghair
Photos? Good idea. I'll have to find somewhere to host them though as I don't want to put old photos on my Flickr site.

@grannydi & others
I don't see much point in making MM so similar to KM that it becomes more or less a clone.
However, if that is what players want it is open for discussion.

Historically, this game was supposed to just a temporary stop-gap.
First, Michael Mepham (MM) set the Daily Telegraph GK Crosswords and members of AB had started trying to guess his links.
Then, Michael Mepham died (Christmas 2007) and no links were published in the paper. Players were getting withdrawal symptoms and created the MM Links Game in his memory.
A few weeks later, Kate Mepham (KM) took over her father's role of setting the GK crosswords and the links were reinstated in the Telegraph. The KM Links Game was created to deal with that.
But what to do with the MM Game? It no longer had a purpose now that KM was underway. It was agreed to run the two in parallel for a bit and see how it went. The rest, as they say, is history.

[rockfordill]

I also agree with grannydi. it is the shotgun start that I find intimidating
whereas KM is a comfortable game. I have been setter three times I think and I still have not mastered all the cutting and pasting stuff so to my chagrin I would still need help in that area. I do enjoy the MM game and the camaraderie and would be sorry to see its demise but I dont need the pressure!

[pixie373]

Interesting gen. Yes, i suppose it shouldn't be too similar to the KM game. Perhaps we should go with cliffyg's idea of providing clues in the preamble. To me, KM is a fairly wild guess...x

[pixie373]

If you didn't have the time pressure, rocky, would you be prepared to do preamble and links for a month -in theory?

[seekeerz]

Morning all... It's not going to have any great consequences but ...gen2 I did have Cliff Hanger as well as True Love (been hard enough getting points this time around)

Thank you King Cliff and gen2 for a great month and looking forward to next

[Christiana]

What a difficult decision re. the links. I don't want to see it end, but I must say, though perhaps I'm in the minority, that I enjoy the challenge of bonus points - perhaps we could have a later start but with the same rules or would that mess up people's day too much? I like the clues within the preamble too, even if I didn't do too well on them.
I'm not too sure a single setter/adjudicator would work without some sort of quizmaster to deal with problems etc. Like others, I can't promise to take on that role at present, as we are currently trying to sell up and move house, but am willing to be a deputy from time to time.

[pixie373]

I have emailed gen offering to score and post reminder Fri eve and results Sunday eve. I could also set if a winner was unable to do links for their month. Setters would need to be quite independent, but i could supply a throwaway email address and post the links if connection problems etc. The problem i have is working and so committing to definite times.
Maybe a certain correct link could give bonus points, or 4/4?