Blanko!

[Gumtree]

Welcome to our newest brain teaser: BLANKO

The rules are simple:

The Challenger posts  either a title or the name of an author, but not both.

Ex:

Title of Book: three words, a prize winning novel:

   ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ T    __ ___   ___ ___ ___ ___


What is it?


The Contestants guess the title or author (if it's a challenge on an author's name)  and post their answer.  If they can, the solve the entire answer. If not, they  can also suggest one of the title words or  a letter to fill in one of the blanks. One guess per "day" (between appearances of the Challenger) for each contestant.

At  the end of the day if the puzzle is not solved, the Challenger will then add only  one of the suggested letters the Contestants have suggested, everywhere it appears.

The winner becomes the new Challenger. 

Good Luck !!

List of Winners and Book Titles or Authors:

1. Pat H for Rabbit Run  Post #27
2. Ginny for Hound of the Baskervilles Post #45
3. Joan P for The Winter of our Discontent # 51
4. Ginny for Aesop's Fables # 54
5. Frybabe for The Caine Mutiny # 68
6. Ginny for Seven Pillars of Wisdom #75
7. Gumtree for Lost in America #100
8. Frybabe for King Solomon's Mines #138
9. Gumtree for  Thus Spake Zarathustra # 174
10. Frybabe for  All Quiet on the Western Front # 193
11. Joan K for Seven Years in Tibet  # 205
12. Gumtree for all Quiet on the Western Front  # 210
13. Frybabe for The Scarlet Pimpernel #221
14. PatH for Two years Before the Mast #225
15. Gumtree for The Rime of the Ancient Mariner #229
16. PatH for HMS Surprise #232
17. JoanP for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea #241
18. Frybabe for The Life of Pi #249
19. pedlin for Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass #264
20. Frybabe for Undaunted Courage #281
21. pedln for Ice Station Zebra #292
22. Gumtree for The African Queen #304
23. pedln for Alias Grace #319
24. Frybabe for Stephen Crane #333
25. JoanP for Is Paris Burning? #343
26. Ginny for Zeituon #350
27. Frybabe for S*** My Dad Says #371
28. JoanP for Ghosts of Vesuvius #384
29. pedln for The 39 Steps #407
30. Frybabe for The Namesake #430
31. JoanP for Awakenings #447
32. pedln for The Left Hand of Darkness #471
33. JoanK for The Elegance of the Hedgehog #481
34. Gumtree for Gone With the Wind #491
35. PatH for That Old Cape Magic #511
36. JoanP for The Woman in White # 523
37. deems 2 for Faceless Killers #554
38. JoanP for The Known World #587
39. deems 2 for Don Quixote #601
40. Gumtree for The Shipping News #616
41. deems 2 for The Count of Monte Cristo #628
42. JoanP for Bel Canto #651
43. pedln for USA #656
44. Fran for A Redbird Christmas #678
45. Nobody got Faith and Betrayal #696
46. Gumtree for Kristin Lavransdatter #705
47. JoanP for A Room with a View #716
48. Gumtree for Metamorphosis # 731
49. JoanP for Mansfield Park #741
50. Frybabe for Empire if the Summer Moon #756
51. PatH for The Sketch Book #772
52. JoanP for The Last of the Mohicans #783
53. deems2 for Anne of Avonlea #792
54. PatH for Wuthering Heights #803
55. deems2 for Snow Falling on Cedars #810
56. JoanP for Let the Great World Spin #821
57. deems2 for A Novel Bookstore #839
58. pedln for Juliet, Naked #858
59. deems2 for The Devil in White City #878
60. JoanP for The Invisible Bridge #901
61. pedln for The Lacuna #909
62. deems2 for To the End of the Land #917
63. JoanP for Wolf Hall #933
64. pedln for Any Human Heart #944
65. JoanP for Ordinary People #955
66. deems2 for The Weird Sisters #963
67. JoanP for Cry the Beloved Country #973
68. deems 2 for Cymbeline #984
69. JoanP for Blood Meridian #1004
70. deems 2 for Awakening the Buddha Within, #1022
71. Pedln (plus gumtree) for A Prayer for Owen Meany #1032
72. JoanP for A Covert Affair # 1049
73. Frybabe for The House at Riverton #1071
74. deems 2 for Ten Days That Shook the World #1074
75. pedln for The Brief Wondrous life of Oscar Wao # 1090
76. JoanP for The Paris Wife # 1110
77. Gumtree for Old Filth #1113
78. Pedln for David Copperfield #1134
79. JoanP for Tabloid City #1150
80. PatH for Caleb's Crossing #1157
81. Frybabe for Unbroken #1169
82. PatH for The Android's Dream #1178
83. JoanP for Treasure Island #1186
84. pedln for Adventures of Huckleberry Finn #1204
85. Frybabe for Winter's Bone #1227
86. JoanP for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy #1234
87. Pedln for A Novel Bookstore #1237
88. pedln for Dancing at the Rascal Fair #1247
89. PatH for The Hunchback of Notre-Dame #1260
90. pedln for Slaughterhouse Five #1269
91. deems 2 for Eternal on the Water #1278
92. Frybabe for The Cookbook Collector #1299
93. Gumtree for The Bridge of Sighs # 1329
94. PatH for The Bridge of San Luis Rey #1335

 




You could be right JoanP - I got as far as A Separate ...  but couldn't get the last word - don't know the Peace one - I was thinking perhaps 'A Separate Class' ...or something.

[pedln]

WINNER!  WINNER!  WINNER!

Way to go Pearson.  An oldie, but a goodie.  I wonder if Netflilx has the film.

Didn't mean to be so long in getting here.  Have been on the road, or up in the air, rather.  Why I left delightful sunny 70 degrees to come home to 99, I'll never know.

[JoanP]

Here's another "oldie"  - written a few years before John Knowles' "A Separate Peace" (what brought it to your attention, Pedln?)

This one is shorter - more of a novella than a novel...

_ _ _    _ _ _ _ E _   _ _ _ _ _  

[Frybabe]

I'd like to try for an N please.

[JoanP]

Here's your "N" Frybabe...just one - and yes, I counted twice.

_ _ _    _ _ N _ E _   _ _ _ _ _ 

[pedln]

(what brought it to your attention, Pedln?)

It's (looking for titles) what one does when one can't get to sleep.

How about an A please.

[JoanP]

One "A" - does that give it away?  a female author with a sense of humor -

_ _ _    _ _ N _ E _    _ E A _ _ 

[Frybabe]

A C?

[PatH]

An R?

[JoanP]

Frybabe was first .........there is no "C" -

another clue?  An American author...

_ _ _    _ _ N _ E _    _ E A _ _ 

[Frybabe]

Well, that eliminates about four words I could have used in the last word. So, let's try for a P.

[JoanK]

We're still missing a vowel. How about an "O"

[JoanP]

JoanK gets another vowel .  Do you see it now?

 

_ _ _

    _ O N _ E _  

 _ E A _ _  

[pedln]

The Wonder Years
The Wonder Tears
The Wonder Bears

They're not books.

How about a D

[JoanP]

OK, you get your "D" Pedln - but no winner designation just yet...none of the three titles above =

_ _ _

    _ O N D E _   

 _ E A _ _ 

[PatH]

The Ponder Heart?

[JoanP]

winner!  winner!  winner!  Congratulations, PatH!

Am I the only one here who has never read Eudora Welty?  Have you?  Did you like The Ponder Heart? - Optimist's Daughter ?  

[PatH]

You're not the only one, JoanP, I haven't either, though it's increasingly obvious that I should.  Probably one day I'll start in on her and gobble up all the books.  I'm glad that's the answer, because the quiz was driving me bananas.

[PatH]

New quiz:

___  ___  ___

___  ___

___  ___  ___

___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___

___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___

___  E  ___

Kind of a mixed media book.

[JoanP]

I'm going to propose that we read at least two of Eudora Weltie's novellas in November...

How about an N?

[JoanK]

I'm confused about the "E"s in the last quiz (not that I would have gotten it: I was nowhere close) but all along, I thought the first word couldn't be "The" because two Es were showing, and no E for "The". I guess no one guessed E, and you only had to show two?

[JoanP]

Right, JoanK - no one guessed the "E" - so they all did not have to be given - BUT the second "E" that did appear cannot be explained.

Are there more E's in the new quiz, PatH?

[PatH]

Which do you want?  E or N?

[JoanP]

Oh....okay, let's see.  How about the N?

[PatH]

OK:

___  ___  ___

___  ___

N  ___  ___

___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___

___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___

___  E  N

[Frybabe]

T, please.

[pedln]

How about a P for our "mixed media" book?

Does that mean illustrated, audio, an opera score?  Escher?

[PatH]

It means importantly illustrated, a vital part of the book.

[JoanK]

I'll have that "E"

[PatH]

Frybabe gets her T:

___  ___  T

___  ___

N  ___  ___

___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___

___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___

___  E  N

[Frybabe]

Well, I was hoping for a few more T's in there. How about some O's?

[PatH]

JoanK and JoanP have been waiting a long time for their E:

___  E  T

___  ___

N  ___  ___

___  ___  ___  ___  ___  E

___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___

___  E  N

[Frybabe]

I have an idea we are looking for a children's book or an art book.

Are there any S's?

[PatH]

Pedln hasn't gotten a letter yet, so here's her P:

 ___  E  T

___  ___

N  ___  ___

P  ___  ___  ___  ___  E

___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___

___  E  N

[PatH]

Frybabe, it's not a children's book, and not exactly an art book either.

[pedln]

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee and Walker Evans

and it looks like storms are coming here.

[PatH]

    WINNER WINNER WINNER

Yes, pedln, that's it!

Agee's poetic journalism and Evans' stark, telling photographs are both necessary to this description of depression-era conditions among Southern share-croppers, so I think it's fair to call it mixed media.

[JoanK]

I was thinking of that book, but I misremembered the name, and couldn't make it fit. An excellent book.

[pedln]

The title is familiar and I'm sure I've seen the photographs, but I don't actually remember what was written.  From what I've read about it just now,I think you're right in calling it "mixed-media."

Back with a new title tomorrow.

[pedln]

A 20th century novel

___   ___

___   ___   ___   ___   ___

___   ___   ___   ___

___   ___   ___

___   ___

___   ___   ___   S