Procol Harum

Beyond
the Pale

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Christmas Quizzes 2020–2021

Triumphant Victors!


For the BtP team it was a slow finale this year: the three beat-the-clock entries came in at 12.20, 12.38 and 12.40; the first three hat-names came in at 12.44, 12.50 and 12.57. 

Slow, but fruitful ... only two incorrect answers were submitted (one of which was invalid because it didn't specify twelve prize answers, and one because it was a thoughtful but erroneous guess). The correct answer, of course, was the equiterminate word 'triumphant' as sung in No More Fear of Flying.

The slow answering-rate suggests that most competitors were working through the elaborate final instructions, ignoring our habitual clues in the wording ... which have occasionally given the game away prematurely! Among the anagrams of the prize-letters that we specified was 'ICARUSJOLTED', which might have called to mind the song about 'fear of flying'. Rather less oblique was the musical score in each puzzle's background 'watermark', which grew a note ('tone') every day: the melody they formed was that of O Come all Ye Faithful, and it ended on the words 'joyful and triumphant'. Further hints included the modification of our habitual wording, whereby winners are typically described as 'Triumphant Victors' ... but the 'triumphant' was missing this year; and lastly, competitors were told that 'you'll know it's the right answer when you find it, and you'll be elated, with a huge sense of victorious satisfaction' ... in other words, 'triumphant'.

Nice to see lots of new players this year, and a good variety of countries represented among the winners. Correct answers were submitted from Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Switzerland, UK, USA. Kudos all the non-native speakers who negotiated this year's labyrinth.

Special thanks to Procol Harum, their management, Esoteric Records and Mr Dave Bronze for this year's prizes; to Jane, our heroic Antipodean puzzle-validatrix; and to our hygienic socially-distanced Glamorous Assistant in full Covid-repellent regalia (not pictured); and lastly, thanks to everyone for playing, and commiserations to those whose names stayed in the hat.



Congratulations to the winning persons, listed here with their origins and prizes:
 
1


First in, against the clock, Andrea Grasso from Italy wins his first choice of prizes, a forthcoming Gary Brooker boxed CD set from Esoteric records. This was overall the joint most popular item on offer
 

2


Second in, against the clock,
Mark Allister from the UK wins his first choice of prizes, the Fillmore poster donated by Dave Bronze. This was overall the third most popular item on offer
 

3


Third in, against the clock,
Andrew Slim from the UK wins his first choice of prizes, a forthcoming Gary Brooker boxed CD set from Esoteric records. This was overall the joint most popular item on offer
 

4


First to be drawn from the BtP Homburg, Stefano Carbone from Italy wins his second choice of prizes, the XL 2020 tour tee-shirt. On average this was the tenth most popular item on offer
 

5


Second out of the BtP Homburg,
Tormod Ringvold from Norway wins his second choice of prizes, the two Procol posters again kindly donated by master-bassist Dave Bronze. Overall this was the fifth popular item on offer
 

6


Third out of the BtP Homburg,
Fred Schröter from the Netherlands wins his third choice of prizes, the 2CD Esoteric Something Magic album. On average this was the sixth most popular item on offer.
 

7


Fourth out of the BtP Homburg, Bob Jaccino from the USA wins his second choice of prizes, the Large 2020 tour tee-shirt. This was overall the seventh most popular item on offer
 

8


Fifth out of the BtP Homburg, Bert Saraco from the USA wins his sixth choice of prizes, the fab Lemon Twigs CD, Songs for the General Public. This was overall the tenth most popular item on offer
 

9


Sixth out of the BtP Homburg, Dmitry Epstein from Canada wins his fifth choice of prizes, the 2CD Esoteric Something Magic album. On average this was the sixth most popular item on offer.
 

10


Seventh out of the BtP Homburg, Manfred
Kaufmann from Germany wins his sixth choice of prizes, the Medium 2020 tour tee-shirt. This was overall the least requested item on offer
 

11
Eighth out of the BtP Homburg,
Robin Tetlow from the UK wins his sixth choice of prizes, the 2CD Esoteric Something Magic album. On average this was the sixth most popular item on offer.
 
12
Ninth and last out of the BtP Homburg, Jesper Mortensen from Denmark wins his seventh choice of prizes, the XL 2020 tour tee-shirt. On average this was the tenth most popular item on offer
 

Shockingly this year the BtP hat clung on to the entry from leading player Marvin Chassman, only the second time we can remember
when he hasn't been placed; commiserations to him! There was an unusually large field of correct entries this year.


Here's the log of the 119 winners since the first BtP Christmas puzzle in 1997

Once
: Alan Semok, Alick Leslie,  Andrew Slim, Aongus Collins, Arne Grue Jensen, Avihay Abudy, Barrie Deatcher, Basil Steven-Fountain, Bent Aronsen, Bernard O Connor, Bruce Donley, Christina Hermansson, Claes-Peter Haväng, Dietmar Schloetel, Dmitri Epstein, Dominik Halas, Erik Mouridsen, Ernst Schuiki, George Parker, Giancarlo Buletti, Giorgio Marcanato, Graham Wallis, Gary Madely, Heidi Moen, Ian Berry, Ian Elby, James Kline, James Waters, Jim Krapf, Jim Stratico, John Crouch, John Weir, Karsten Overgaard, Kurt Harding, Marc Laveaux, Mark Mott, Michael Haag, Mick Norman, Mike McGill, Mike Norman, Nancy Zohner, Peter Bourne, Peter Christian, Peter Gardner, Pierre Godbout, Richard Mosely, Robert Ruehs, Robert Sangpeth, Robert Young, Robin Tetlow, Russell Maddox, Sam Behrend, Søren Borello, Stefano Ciccioriccio, Stuart Grant, Toshiya Hyakuma, Yan Epstein, Holger Neumeyer, Lars Johansson.

Twice: Andrea Grasso, Carlo Ponissi, Dave Knight, Greg Panfile, Jan Pederson, Jesper Mortensen, Kerry Canfield, Lourens Visser, Mogens Vinther, Pamela Miller Chwedyk, Phil George.

Thrice: Barbara Black, Beverly Peyton, Bob Young, Charlie Allison, Claire Margerison, Evan Wagshul, Fred Schröter, Gabriella Vinci, Ian Hockley, John Cammalleri, John Commons, Jonas Söderström, Jutta/Manfred Kaufmann, Marcelo Pereira, Tarvo Niine

Four times: Axel Leonhardt, Dave Pettit, Gordon Chalmers, Maurice Atkinson, Markku Huttunen, Peter Cohen, Stefano Carbone.

Five times: Richard Beck, Heidi Widmer.

Six times:  Jeremy Gilien.

Seven times: Kerry Holloway (and Jen, sometimes), Mark Allister, Piotr Wlaz.

Nine times: Bert Saraco (and Carina, sometimes), Bob Jaccino.

Ten times: Pat Keating, Tormod Ringvold.

Twenty-two times: Marvin Chassman.


The fab prizes | Competitors' feedback | The how-to-play page for the 2020 'Beyond the Pale' Christmas puzzles | The solutions


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