I tell my parents that when the year comes to an end, I'm not going to university. I think I've found a sort of vocation in comedy. I love the underworld, I love the screwed-up people, I finally fit in and I am happy. I'm not going to give it up to study T.S. Eliot and The Wife's Lament. I can't bear to re-enter the misery of my school years. And I sense that I'd never go back to comedy if I stopped to be a student for three years. I'd lose my nerve, and I can't risk that. Something finally feels right to me. I'm on my yellow brick road. So, I'm going to write to the admissions tutor at Oxford and say thank you very much, but they should give my place to somebody else.
Then I look at my father's face. I love him more than anyone in the world.
'It's okay,' I say. 'I was only joking.'
I'm only twenty pages into For Richer, For Poorer, Victoria Coren's poker memoirs, and I have already found myself on the verge of tears multiple times. My poker knowledge is patchy, but I'm really enjoying it so far.
Speaking of Victoria Coren: the brilliant but evil![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
elfwhistletree posted her own Only Connect wall yesterday, and it inspired me to have a crack at making one myself. Mine isn't as elegant or as packed with ingenious red herrings as hers, but let's see how it goes.
Petrelli, Normal, Chain, Grant
Pond, Lock, Barley, Shed
Helmet, Smith, Fan, Mow
Heat, Young, Noble, Explosion
For anyone unfamiliar with Only Connect: there are four groups of four words in here, mixed up largely at random. The words in each group are held together by a connection. Your aim is to untangle the four groups and find the connections. For example, the answers to Wall 65 on the Only Connect website:
Adze, Gouge, Plane, Rasp - hand tools used in woodworking
Dion, Logan, Martin, Shaw - Eurovision Song Contest winners
Diaper, Plug, Pool, Straw - form valid words when read backwards
Blue, Boysen, Goose, Huckle - can be followed by 'berry'
Some of these fall into multiple categories - for example, 'straw' can also be followed by 'berry' - but ultimately there's only one perfect solution.
If you give me a list of four words from the centred wall and your guess at their connection, I'll tell you whether you're right or wrong! You're also welcome to think aloud and confer with others in the comments, of course.
This may well not work at all, but let's give it a try. (And I encourage other people to come up with their own walls, because this game is incredibly frustrating and I'm a masochist.)
(EDIT:doyle_sb4 has identified the first group! This puzzle probably is too easy, but at least I've included the link to the Only Connect website, which will provide more than enough annoyance when my attempt at a wall proves inadequate.)
(EDIT AGAIN: The wall has been completed! Correct guesses:
doyle_sb4: Smith, Grant, Pond, Noble - Doctor Who companions
derryderrydown: Petrelli, Barley, Young, Explosion - characters called Nathan
elfwhistletree: Chain, Helmet, Shed, Lock - can be preceded by 'bike'
zarla: Normal, Fan, Mow, Heat - forms of Rotom (well, of course one of them was going to be about Pokémon)
Thank you to everyone who played!)
Then I look at my father's face. I love him more than anyone in the world.
'It's okay,' I say. 'I was only joking.'
I'm only twenty pages into For Richer, For Poorer, Victoria Coren's poker memoirs, and I have already found myself on the verge of tears multiple times. My poker knowledge is patchy, but I'm really enjoying it so far.
Speaking of Victoria Coren: the brilliant but evil
elfwhistletree posted her own Only Connect wall yesterday, and it inspired me to have a crack at making one myself. Mine isn't as elegant or as packed with ingenious red herrings as hers, but let's see how it goes.For anyone unfamiliar with Only Connect: there are four groups of four words in here, mixed up largely at random. The words in each group are held together by a connection. Your aim is to untangle the four groups and find the connections. For example, the answers to Wall 65 on the Only Connect website:
Adze, Gouge, Plane, Rasp - hand tools used in woodworking
Dion, Logan, Martin, Shaw - Eurovision Song Contest winners
Diaper, Plug, Pool, Straw - form valid words when read backwards
Blue, Boysen, Goose, Huckle - can be followed by 'berry'
Some of these fall into multiple categories - for example, 'straw' can also be followed by 'berry' - but ultimately there's only one perfect solution.
If you give me a list of four words from the centred wall and your guess at their connection, I'll tell you whether you're right or wrong! You're also welcome to think aloud and confer with others in the comments, of course.
This may well not work at all, but let's give it a try. (And I encourage other people to come up with their own walls, because this game is incredibly frustrating and I'm a masochist.)
(EDIT:
doyle_sb4 has identified the first group! This puzzle probably is too easy, but at least I've included the link to the Only Connect website, which will provide more than enough annoyance when my attempt at a wall proves inadequate.)(EDIT AGAIN: The wall has been completed! Correct guesses:
doyle_sb4: Smith, Grant, Pond, Noble - Doctor Who companionsderryderrydown: Petrelli, Barley, Young, Explosion - characters called Nathanelfwhistletree: Chain, Helmet, Shed, Lock - can be preceded by 'bike'zarla: Normal, Fan, Mow, Heat - forms of Rotom (well, of course one of them was going to be about Pokémon)Thank you to everyone who played!)
