A Quiz On Page 317

Autumn is close upon us again. Fall colors, the Spoon River Drive, the Morton Pumpkin Festival, and all the other local hallmarks of the season serve as gentle, pleasant reminders of the season. The annual banquet of the Hansoms of John Clayton is here to stir the memory as well, in a more Sherlockian mode. my memory may not be what it used to be, as the editor of this publication will attest, but with all these tip-offs . . . .

You didn't think I'd forget the Second Annual Dissecting Room Bowl, did you?

Last year the readers of this little publication amazed both this columnist and his editor by coming up with the answers to what I had thought was the vaguest, most undecipherable quiz I could concoct. Some even came up with better answers than I myself had originally written, but when the dust settled, one'definite winner prevailed -- Rosemary Michaud, who identified the bird with the card on her leg as Henry Baker's wife.

This year's Dissecting Room Bowl concerns another page chosen at random from The Complete Sherlock Holmes, page number 317, to be exact. As with last year, this is an open-book quiz, but this year I'm going to turn up the juice. So find a quiet moment, sit back, turn to page 317, and say good-bye to sanity --

The Second Annual Dissecting Room Bowl is about to begin.

1. Find the prime example of Mrs. Hudson's lax housekeeping. (And it's a lot worse than not clearing the breakfast dishes!)

2. What old James Arness movie had the Baker Street boys watched the night before?

3. Who was the fan of 2 Live Crew?

4. Mycroft Holmes may be the British government, but what evidence do we find on this page that Sherlock Holmes was the Canadian government?

5. What was Holmes's emotional state when at the kiln?

6. There would have been another question or two in this spot, but this is a family publication. If you're over eighteen, give me the question.

7. What's the best poker hand you can make from this page? (If you think someone is cheating in this game, speak up. Mrs. Baker wasn't on this page, but you never know.)

Okay, that's the best I can do this time out. The person whose answers are closest to my own shall be declared the winner and awarded a prize of unknown origin (the best kind). Send your answers to Bob Burr by October 13, and if you do well enough, we may not have to go through this again next year.

Department of unfinished business: Any readers whose memory centers did survive the summer may, at this point, be wondering why there has yet to be a report on the Merryweather Memorial Whist Tournament, proposed in the may issue. The answer, as one might suspect, is because there has been no Merryweather Memorial Whist Tournament to report on.

Apparently the whist team of Burr and Keefauver playing for the Hansoms was a bit too daunting for all other scions but the Pondicherry Lodge, our only competitor in the tournament thus far. The tournament will proceed with only two teams eventually, but two more would be welcome.

As a word of encouragement to the other scions out there, let me say that none of the competitors thus far have ever really played whist before, and it is a very simple game to learn. You might stand a chance of winning the trophy and the laurels of making whist history.

(Bob hasn't really been studying the system of American Leads, or practicing dealing Yarboroughs [hands with all cards smaller than a ten, for you non-whistful sorts]. I've barely touched my copy of Hamilton's Modern Scientific Whist, and the "Keefauver variation" you may have heard about is merely a vicious rumor.)

(Printed in Plugs & Dottles, October 1991)