Alphabet associations - I

[Anna]

Did you see 'Tale of Two Cities'?
Did anyone else already know (maybe everyone did except me ) that 'hotbeds' involved a layer of manure underneath the topsoil, fermenting and growing warm and hence boosting plant growth as well as nourishing the plants?

Everyone knows about hotbeds, how do you think most Victorian greenhouses functioned? <doh> I imagine that you never ventured into that part of the Chateau Caliban Estate. The programme was very interesting but I appreciate now the remarks about Cruickshank's presentation.
Edit: Hotbeds were to force crops like Melons, Cucumbers, Strawberries, and Radishes. In fact any crop that was needed in the kitchen by the cook out of season, could be grown in a Hotbed. They couldn't fly in strawberries from Spain.

[Nick Armstrong]

Everyone knows about hotbeds, how do you think most Victorian greenhouses functioned? <doh> I imagine that you never ventured into that part of the Chateau Caliban Estate. The programme was very interesting but I appreciate now the remarks about Cruickshank's presentation.

I knew I was asking for a <doh> from Anna, posing that question! Cruising for a bruising...

I must ask McTavish to give me a demonstration next time I stroll through the grounds in that direction with the ocelots

The prog on bridges looks good too, if you can take any more of Whispering Dan http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jv5nr

[Anna]

I had made a note of the London bridges programme. I imagine all these programmes about London are intended to concentrate our minds on forthcoming events. I see that the opening ceremony of the Games features a huge bell cast at Whitechapel and inscribed with a quote from Caliban: "Be not afeard, the isle is full of noises." (Didn't you have that as your signature??)
Edit: I have found the World Carrot Museum!! http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/history6.html
and, if anyone has an inkling about the current puzzle I'll look in at around 1.30.

[Nick Armstrong]

a huge bell cast at Whitechapel and inscribed with a quote from Caliban: "Be not afeard, the isle is full of noises." (Didn't you have that as your signature??)

Edit: I have found the World Carrot Museum!!

I still do, don't I? Has it become invisible?

All this talk of carrots does of course make it essential to proffer the magnificent and implicitly obscene quote from Uncle Monty in "Withnail":

I think the carrot infinitely more fascinating than the geranium. The carrot has mystery. Flowers are essentially tarts. Prostitutes for the bees. There is, you'll agree, a certain 'je ne sais quoi' oh so very special about a firm.. young... carrot.

[Nick Armstrong]

if anyone has an inkling about the current puzzle I'll look in at around 1.30.

My inklings are playing up. Must be this damp weather....

Your A is somewhat testing, Anna

I was toying with Amaryllis (Wilbye wrote a madrigal about her) but then I found a poem by someone called Carl Michael Bellman entitled "Up Amaryllis" and decided I should stop...



Can't find much for Dufay at all... Presumably you are talking about Guillaume Dufay?

[Anna]

My inklings are playing up. Must be this damp weather....
Your A is somewhat testing, Anna
I was toying with Amaryllis (Wilbye wrote a madrigal about her)
Can't find much for Dufay at all... Presumably you are talking about Guillaume Dufay?

Yes, Bill Dufay it is and, your inklings ain't so rusty, try having another look at sweet little Amaryllis? The link in itself is not musical, although all the pieces are.

[Nick Armstrong]

Yes, Bill Dufay it is and, your inklings ain't so rusty, try having another look at sweet little Amaryllis? The link in itself is not musical, although all the pieces are.

There's an Amaryllis Consort.... did they sing Dufay?

And my friend's cousin Amaryllis Fleming, she played Beethoven on her 'cello...

But your message suggests that we haven't yet got the "not musical" link: is Amaryllis not the A then?

[mercia]

Dufay in a cellar?

Adieu ces bons vins de Lannoys ??

[Anna]

Adieu ces bons vins de Lannoys ??

mercia, I was just about to reply to Caliban's query (with a mega-clue) that Le mot commence par 'A', mais n'est pas Amaryllis, et Voila! Up you pop with the correct answer which is Adieu and you are totally correct with the Dufay saying bye-bye to the vino! And, of course, the Wilbye is Adieu Sweet Amaryllis which Cali got minus the first (important) word! So, just Beethoven to go and it's more than a simple farewell

[cloughie]

mercia, I was just about to reply to Caliban's query (with a mega-clue) that Le mot commence par 'A', mais n'est pas Amaryllis, et Voila! Up you pop with the correct answer which is Adieu and you are totally correct with the Dufay saying bye-bye to the vino! And, of course, the Wilbye is Adieu Sweet Amaryllis which Cali got minus the first (important) word! So, just Beethoven to go and it's more than a simple farewell

Or perhaps it is more than one farewell from Ludwig, maybe 26!

[Anna]

Or perhaps it is more than one farewell from Ludwig, maybe 26!

I think you may be right cloughie, would you care to say more so we can get this wrapped up?

[cloughie]

I think you may be right cloughie, would you care to say more so we can get this wrapped up?

No preblem A:

Beethoven:Piano Sonata 26 'Les Adieux'.

[Nick Armstrong]

I think you may be right cloughie, would you care to say more so we can get this wrapped up?

Well done to mercia!* and great 'cellar' connection - sorry I disappeared, the afternoon just got very busy Adieu!! (or rather, Au revoir )

*and cloughie

[Anna]

No preblem A:
Beethoven:Piano Sonata 26 'Les Adieux'.

Yes, in fact in 3 parts, Les adieux, l'absence et le retour (The French attack on Vienna, led by Bonaparte in 1809, forced Beethoven's patron, Archduke Rudolph, to leave the city and this was dedicated to Archduke Rudolph)

I do realise that Dufay wrote an awful lot of drinking songs, but I thought the clue was reasonably clear re what you keep in a cellar.

So, Cali got the Wilbye Sweet Amaryllis but without the first word (!) mercia got the important Adieu and cloughie came in and tidied it up. Far as I can see, the B is up for grabs if mercia decides to do a soft-shoe shuffle side-step!
Edit: And I guess I should provide the Coleslaw. Apart from the Beethoven above, the others were Dufay Adieu ces bons vins de Lannoy and Wilbye Adieu Sweet Amaryllis.

[Nick Armstrong]

Still cross with myself I didn't spot the Adieu connection. It's that mercia with Hercule Poirot's magnifying glass... no wait, that was Sherlock Holmes (Rathbone style)...

Good puzzle!