Alphabet associations - I

[Anna]

we had an interesting time, 4 whites, 4 reds, France -v- New World - so, 2 French Chardonnays -v- a S African and an Australian; and 2 French Pinot Noir v a New Zealand and an Australian... The discreet little white Macon was the best white for me, not liking the big buttery Chards.; and then a red French Vosne-Romanée above all: yum! Too expensive to think about buying any though...

Gosh - I've just looked up how much that Vosne-Romanée costs!! I'll have to wait until it's on offer at the CoOp!! Don't you find though that it's difficult tasting reds and whites together? I used to love those big fruity buttery Chards, gone onto reds now, trying an Italian at the weekend from Puglia

I've just booked my advance train tickets for my epic trek to The Frozen North anton!

[Nick Armstrong]

What S connects:
- an Engel in a band of brothers;
- a composer, interested in the occult, whose third symphony was first performed a century after his second;
- a symphony by a different composer, with an Ealing connection, first performed exactly 50 years after the above composer's second (and, ergo, 50 years before the third)?

Like everyone, I imagine, I latched onto Elgar for element 2, as he dabbled in the occult and had a much delayed premiere for his Symphony No 3... but then found that we're 13 years short as regards the gap from his second

Now I'm stuck. Is the Ealing connection with the Studios?

[rubbernecker]

Like everyone, I imagine, I latched onto Elgar for element 2, as he dabbled in the occult and had a much delayed premiere for his Symphony No 3... but then found that we're 13 years short as regards the gap from his second

Now I'm stuck. Is the Ealing connection with the Studios?

I don't think anyone's latched onto Elgar apart from you, o bleary-eyed one. Anton appears to have got the first two elements and will no doubt receive the laurels when he lands. If you'd like to make a heroic solo effort to reach no.3 then I should assist by telling you that it is indeed Ealing studios.

[Anna]

I don't think anyone's latched onto Elgar apart from you, o bleary-eyed one. .

You just beat me to more or less the exact same answer rubbra! Elgar?

I've been waiting for anton to finish but suspect he is airborne. You don't know how hard it has been for me to sit on my hands!

[Nick Armstrong]

You just beat me to more or less the exact same answer rubbra! Elgar?

Ouch!

Well, Anna your coupled with the sense that everyone seems to know the answer except me, lead me to conclude that I am off the pace today and hence far more suited to the considerably easier task of work!!

[rubbernecker]

(i'm a transmografied hercule by-the-way)

"Oooh, I didn't recognise you! Didja have a bit o' work done on yer eek?"

So, why the need to re-invent yourself, hercule?

[Anna]

Ouch!

Well, Anna your coupled with the sense that everyone seems to know the answer except me, lead me to conclude that I am off the pace today

Oh, I just read that as "I am off the piste today" We are just playing with you Caliban, it's Friday afternoon, the sun is shining and we are being frivolous! Don't take it seriously

[Nick Armstrong]

does wine-tasting involve a lot of spitting, or am I thinking of football?

(i'm a transmografied hercule by-the-way)

I do hope the surgery's healing well

I did wonder from mercia's instant familiarlity with rubbers' question-setting style. Or I thought maybe he/she was a lurker, drawn from obscurity by talk of the occult...

And last night's dégustation involved no spitting at all, but indeed the professionals hawk it all back up I believe.

I wish someone would come out and solve this pesky S, I'm fed up with it!

[rubbernecker]

I decided my old name implied a certain level of sleuthing that I wasn't quite up to

What utter tosh! You are the selfsame slippery sleuther incarnate! You've certainly cracked enough clues on this thread. Ah, well. Don't mind me if I still refer to you using the h word now and then.

[Nick Armstrong]

Oh, I just read that as "I am off the piste today" We are just playing with your Caliban, it's Friday afternoon, the sun is shining and we are being frivolous! Don't take it seriously

You can play with my Caliban any time, Anna!

I just want to be out in the sunshine and the vernal breezes, being cooped inside with a thick head is getting me down I confess to clock-watching this afternoon, preparing a very POETS departure...

[Anna]

I wish someone would come out and solve this pesky S, I'm fed up with it!

I could put you out of your misery but said I'm sitting the next few puzzles out, and as anton has the first two, even if I finished it off, we will still be in limbo as regarding a T. Btw, aren't we terribly nice and well behaved and like, totally non-competitive?

[Nick Armstrong]

I could put you out of your misery but said I'm sitting the next few puzzles out, and as anton has the first two, even if I finished it off, we will still be in limbo as regarding a T. Btw, aren't we terribly nice and well behaved and like, totally non-competitive?

Like, totally, yeah

We need the contestant formerly known as hercule to summon us all to the virtual library and unveil the solution to this puzzling conundrum.

[mercia]

erm, well I don't want to spoil things in my new persona

Anton gave us Cyril Scott, his third symphony not performed until 2003, 100 years after no. 2 in 1903. Equidistant, in 1953, is Vaughan Williams's Sinfonia Antarctica (ice wall clue) which was originally the music for Ealing Studio's Scott of The Antarctic, that's Scott no. 2. Then Anton gave us Engel Walker aka Noel Scott Engel of the Walker Brothers (don't know anything about them). So 3 Scotts.

[Anna]

So, anton deserves a cuppa T as 2 out of 3!! The VW was a bit tricky if you didn't know VW's history.

[rubbernecker]

erm, well I don't want to spoil things in my new persona

Anton gave us Cyril Scott, his third symphony not performed until 2003, 100 years after no. 2 in 1903. Equidistant, in 1953, is Vaughan Williams's Sinfonia Antartica (ice wall clue) which was originally the music for Ealing Studio's Scott of The Antartic, that's Scott no. 2. Then Anton gave us Engel Walker aka Noel Scott Engel of the Walker Brothers (don't know anything about them). So 3 Scotts.

Beautifully explained, hercule... sorry, mercia. That should put Caliban out of his misery.

The next conundrum is whether to wait for anton (who could well be having terrible things done to him at the hands of HM customs involving rubber gloves) or to ask you to set T?

EDIT: I also gave a "could be gone some time..." hint

EDIT 2: I also never knew that Scott Walker studied Gregorian Chant