Thursday, May 03, 2012

PCS 5.2 - Ballad of the Brooklyn Bums

1. Having the traits of panthera leo.
2. Synonym for the World Series with "Fall"
3. Part of a board game with pie-shaped playing pieces.
4. Philistine of above-average height.
5. Largest city in Alameda County.
6. City where the first recorded baseball game was played.
7. Waiting in line.
8. Novel that is celebrated every June 16.
9. First word of a '67 Beatles album, or an adjective for the Dodgers new ownership group.
10. Nocturnes composer Claude.
11. Antonym of "nearer".
12. Site of a July 4, 1976 raid.
13. Tool for chipping blocks of frozen water.
14. Insignia, symbols, and paraphernalia once used to denote royal status.
15. Profile of the mandible.
16. Non-starting members of sports teams, collectively.
17. What obscures the moon during lunar eclipses.
18. The slot one uses to unlock a door.
19. Ears with rings usually are.
20. "______ fine mess."
21. What is handed down after the jury deliberates.
22. The Empire State.



Puzzle Rules: The solution to the puzzle is a former Dodger. Comment freely in the thread, but if you have the solution, please don't give it away to everyone in the comments section. Instead, do the following:
  • Send us an Email with "PCS" somewhere in the subject line, containing the first and last name of the players, along with your reasoning. Submitted answers without the reasoning, or those submitted with the incorrect reasoning, will count for participation only, even if the answer itself is correct. And please include your screen name somewhere in the email; and
  • Post a comment simply saying you have emailed your solution attempt. We may not be able to reply to your original email promptly, so please be patient and check back on the comment thread for the latest news; we may confirm correct answers there.
You have until midnight PT tonight to submit your answer. Answer will be posted tomorrow morning. Good luck!

Hint #1: The missing words all have the same number of letters.

Hint #2: Notice there are no "A" chords in this composition. There must be some reason for that...

Hint #3: The clues are in the correct order for the song, but not for the answer.

Hint #4: B=2, C=3, etc.

72 comments:

Franklin Stubbs said...

Gahd damn!

1. Ubragg

Todd Etter said...

Answer sent!

Franklin Stubbs said...

Right! This is looking familiar...

EK?

1. ubragg
2. BCCSweet

Franklin Stubbs said...

Hint 0: Actually attempting to perform this ballad musically may result in disorientation and temporary hearing loss.

Dusty Baker said...

Jesus Colorado tried to attempt this ballad once. It's the reason he was finally kicked out of the Flaming Menudos.

Franklin Stubbs said...

Send a quarter of the population of Turlock to the emergency room just once, and you never hear the end of it.

Steve Sax said...

@Stubbs: I've officially gone blind

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

Shit!

Franklin Stubbs said...

@Sax

Better screen resolution version up.

Unless you were talking about the acoustic side effects. Those should wear off in 2, 3 days, tops.

Franklin Stubbs said...

Marla's participation-credit campaign continues. Truly, you are the Eugene V. Debs of off-day puzzle competitions.

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

I'm even doing this from prison!

Fred's Brim said...

where the "V" stands for Vixen!

And please don't give me any participation points. I will just waste them

Franklin Stubbs said...

Is anyone really surprised?

Fred's Brim said...

All of this reminiscing about Jesus Colorado got me thinking. For the SOSG glossary, could we have something for the Flaming Menudos? I am thinking a VH1 Behind The Music exposé or maybe something like the back cover of a 1960s jazz record.

Paul has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the band's history and can fill in the many gaps in Neeebs' drug-ravaged memory. And Nomo is the master if digging through the archives where he could find previously discussed FM trivia.

Would this be possible or is it too much work?

And is it true that Jesus Colorado is the brother of Tex Colorado, the Arizona Assassin?

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

Progress sent.

Franklin Stubbs said...

Jesus Colorado comes from the Wisconsin Colorados, not the Dakota branch. No relation to Tex.

Truly, there are a plethora of FM facts out there to track down. I'll consult with the SoSG archivist to see if such a thing is possible.

Franklin Stubbs said...

MLASC, you've got mail.

You're on the right track...

Hint 1 posted.

Dusty Baker said...

FB, I was JUST thinking about that earlier this morning. Incredible that we had the same idea. I don't know about feasibility bc there is so much info in random threads and on the Facebook Flaming Menudo group threads. But I like the idea. Actually it would be easier to draw from the Fbook bc of the the thread structure.

We should at least ID the genesis and earliest references.

Franklin Stubbs said...

Dusty,

I was thinking I could track down in-thread references and put them in a glossary post. As such, it could be linked back to the official fan page.

Dusty Baker said...

Right, Stubbs.

Meta question: is there a better/different search mechanism for previous SOSG comments than the one at the top left of the home screen? We used to have the Search Box Thingy, which seemed far more robust. The one one at the top left seems only to pick up post words, not comments.

Franklin Stubbs said...

The "Search Box Thingy" was just a domain-specific google search, iirc.

Franklin Stubbs said...

Por ejemplo

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

@Stubbs - I haven't gotten your e-mail yet.

Franklin Stubbs said...

@Marla,

I re-sent the message. be advised, it wouldn't have come from the mothership account.

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

Now I gots it.

Dusty Baker said...

@Stubbs

Right. Which was infinitely more helpful than the current one, which only searches post titles.

And how does one search for past labels (e.g., the ever-meaningful "Faux malaise" label?

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

new progress sent

Franklin Stubbs said...

@Dusty

There's no widget to search by category, to my knowledge. Wouldn't be hard to make one, though.

@Marla

You've got the clues mostly locked in now. You just need to figure out what to do with them now that you have them.

QuadSevens said...

Progress/Answer sent.

Franklin Stubbs said...

@Q7

I didn't get your progress yet. Make sure you have "PCS" in your subject line. (That gets it to my mobile device)

QuadSevens said...

Resent.

spank said...

*does the worm*

Franklin Stubbs said...

@Quad

You're right on the cusp. You just need to figure out how to read the results of what you've already done.

Franklin Stubbs said...

Hint #2 posted.

QuadSevens said...

No A Chords!? D'oh!

Franklin Stubbs said...

For those of you who know what the hell I'm talking about. Think standard tuning. I'm not THAT evil.

BJ Killeen said...

Great Ballad. Answer posted. Email sent. Thanks!

karina said...

@Fred's Brim @Dusty Baker @Neeebs @Paul I've saved some Flaming Menudos info :$

spank said...

I can play a Mixolydian scale on the g string and make her howl.

Franklin Stubbs said...

@BJ

Correct result, wrong methodology.

You've got a reply coming.

Franklin Stubbs said...

Throw it down, Spank!

Franklin Stubbs said...

New hint up.

QuadSevens said...

New progress sent.

Franklin Stubbs said...

Coming back your way, Q7!

Paul said...

We need to copyright the Flaming Menudos before some ironic hipster band steals it. Oh wait I said I took care of that in 1977?

Franklin Stubbs said...

Not a hint, per se, but for anyone having trouble with the notation, this tool may help.

Franklin Stubbs said...

...or this one.

QuadSevens said...

Answer sent.

Franklin Stubbs said...

Correct!

1. ubragg
2. BCCSweet
3. QuadSevens

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

Now I'm stuck again.

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I ACTUALLY TRY

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

(ps: progress sent)

Franklin Stubbs said...

Hint 4 posted

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

I quit.

Franklin Stubbs said...

He was almost there, too.

Eric Karros said...

FYI I am working on this...I think I get the concept, now just have to execute...

Franklin Stubbs said...

I know the wait-until-all-the-hints-are posted strategy too well, EK.

Franklin Stubbs said...

EK brings it home!

1. ubragg
2. BCCSweet
3. QuadSevens
4. Eric Karros

Eric Karros said...

Yes, I have inadvertently discovered the pleasures of the 'wait for all the hints' strategy...much less time pressure since solve timing has less chance of impacting your score.

Looks like BCCSweet is now playing the role of "He Who Comes Closest to Pushing Ubragg."

karina said...

hello EK! hope to see you around on a GT soon!

Franklin Stubbs said...

It would be interesting to a cage match of BCCSweet v. Mr. C (pre-apotheosis).

Steve K said...

Answer sent! The "wait for all the hints" strategy works yet again!

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

Answer sent!

Franklin Stubbs said...

You're both right! Steve edges Marla by 2 minutes!

1. ubragg
2. BCCSweet
3. QuadSevens
4. Eric Karros
5. Steve K
6. MLASC

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

That was a bitch.

Eric Karros said...

Epale Karina! Good to hear from you!

Sorry I've been non-existent on the game threads (that apology is for everyone).

Steve K said...

Yes, it was. I can't imagine how much bigger a bitch it must've been to put together.

Todd Etter said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Todd Etter said...

Re: Looks like BCCSweet is now playing the role of "He Who Comes Closest to Pushing Ubragg."

I'll push him as hard as I can... hopefully he'll tear a hammy. :)

Alex said...

I call drums for next 'nudos tour...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DVbt5W-DNc

Stubbs, you must have a massive head.

Dusty Baker said...

Definitely would love for my fallen brother EK to join in a GT some day.

Franklin Stubbs said...

@Alex

You should see that thing. It's a wonder I can stand upright!