Triple Slartifer, Part 11

[tridash]

489. Don't Cross Carolyn - Advice for an aspiring apprentice -- from an old commercial

 

Carolyn Kepcher was one of the advisers on the origin version of The Apprentice until 2006.

 

 

498. Haxing the l337 and twinking it to the n00b - English Restoration, of modern sorts -- perhaps not quite in the spirit of its medieval antecedent

 

The PDN refers to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor (as Robin Hood) with something of an MMO twist; twinking is giving the n00b equipment that only the l337 would normally have.

 

 

455. Breathing in Fumes - Fast counterpart to being stripped down to the bone -- from a 1986 UK hit

 

Stripped was a song by Depeche Mode; with lyrics "Stripped down to the bone" and "You're breathing in fumes". One of the B-side tracks, Breathing in Fumes, samples from Stripped.

[Quiconque]

470. Could the heavens truly have sided with the apes? -- "Unnatural Selection?"

Quotes from the game Chrono Trigger

YES +2

Spoken by Azala, in the course of the defeat of his people at the hands of primitive humans; ironic, given that the heavens are in the process of sending down Lavos, who finalizes Azala's defeat but also destroys and feeds on human civilization; and aptly described by the chapter title, "Unnatural Selection?", given that Lavos's arrival is also indirectly responsible for causing humans to come from the future to aid the primitives in defeating Azala.

 

 

489. Don't Cross Carolyn - Advice for an aspiring apprentice -- from an old commercial

 

Carolyn Kepcher was one of the advisers on the origin version of The Apprentice until 2006.

YES +3

 

498. Haxing the l337 and twinking it to the n00b - English Restoration, of modern sorts -- perhaps not quite in the spirit of its medieval antecedent

 

The PDN refers to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor (as Robin Hood) with something of an MMO twist; twinking is giving the n00b equipment that only the l337 would normally have.

YES +4

 

455. Breathing in Fumes - Fast counterpart to being stripped down to the bone -- from a 1986 UK hit

 

Stripped was a song by Depeche Mode; with lyrics "Stripped down to the bone" and "You're breathing in fumes". One of the B-side tracks, Breathing in Fumes, samples from Stripped.

YES +3

 

Fast was a clue to "depeche" (see the French). As for the b-side, what a... confident piece of quasi-industrial deconstructed synthpop it is:

 

[Edgwyn]

494. Identification with the Romantic Irony -- Snow White -- for example

Romantic Irony is when a narrator indicates a story is true and the later on admits it is made up

[Quiconque]

494 - NO

And I have to say I don't love the first definition google turns up for romantic irony, which is narrow and I think off-center. Try this instead:

 

http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100427659

[Quiconque]

Okay, this has been going on an exceptionally long time, so I think sometimes Tuesday I'm going to end it and post the remaining answers. Feel free to make any number of guesses from now till then.

[Edgwyn]

475. Tempestuous Winds and Gusts -- In which the broken fourth wall starts talking to the audience

In the play The Tempest, Prospero is seen as Shakespeare talking to the audience

 

479. Safety in Numbers -- Modular counterpart to a whole story

Chapters are numbered and are the modules of a whole story

 

I think that this round was a bit overwhelming in its size

[Quiconque]

475. Tempestuous Winds and Gusts -- In which the broken fourth wall starts talking to the audience

In the play The Tempest, Prospero is seen as Shakespeare talking to the audience

NO - but you're headed in the right direction here, at least partially

 

479. Safety in Numbers -- Modular counterpart to a whole story

Chapters are numbered and are the modules of a whole story

NO - reasonable enough, but doesn't really explain the safety

 

I think that this round was a bit overwhelming in its size

Very true. I didn't intend for it to get this big. Now it's shrunk down quite a bit though, less than 20 left. *shrug*

[ĐªгŦĦ Єяŋϊε]

Delete.

One of my clues was used already.

[Edgwyn]

I'm stuck, I have parts of clues ranging from Shakespeare to Burns, but I am not able to connect anything

[Dikiyoba]

One good guess, and three wild guesses.

 

457. Lost Properly - Fair and true counterpart to a materialistic PDN

The PDN "Lost Property" is this PDN's counterpart and references material goods.

 

475. Tempestuous Winds and Gusts - In which Cloud is restrained, and takes damage -- until he has reached his limit...

Cloud is a Final Fantasy VII reference, and tempestuous might indicate a Shakespeare's The Tempest reference, but really all I have to put these two together is a storm theme: clouds and winds.

 

479. Safety in Numbers - Duke Ellington's prescription for everybody

Duke Ellington was a jazz composer who liked working with large numbers of musicians, so maybe?

 

494. Identification with the Romantic Irony - In which the broken fourth wall starts talking to the audience

Romantic irony involves the author speaking directly to the audience (ie, breaking the fourth wall) about their work.

 

Dikiyoba.

[Dikiyoba]

Very true. I didn't intend for it to get this big. Now it's shrunk down quite a bit though, less than 20 left. *shrug*

Unfortunately, the only ones left are the really hard ones. Plus, no Triumph to help us out. Did you ban him or something?

 

Dikiyoba.

[Quiconque]

457. Lost Properly - Fair and true counterpart to a materialistic PDN

The PDN "Lost Property" is this PDN's counterpart and references material goods.

YES +3

If something is done properly, it's done the way it should be, i.e., fairly; if you're properly lost, you're truly lost, not just sort of lost. You got the other piece.

 

475. Tempestuous Winds and Gusts - In which Cloud is restrained, and takes damage -- until he has reached his limit...

Cloud is a Final Fantasy VII reference, and tempestuous might indicate a Shakespeare's The Tempest reference, but really all I have to put these two together is a storm theme: clouds and winds.

NO - but perfectly reasonable guess. Also, I'll say here there are Shakespeare references in this but not actually to the Tempest.

 

479. Safety in Numbers - Duke Ellington's prescription for everybody

Duke Ellington was a jazz composer who liked working with large numbers of musicians, so maybe?

NO

 

494. Identification with the Romantic Irony - In which the broken fourth wall starts talking to the audience

Romantic irony involves the author speaking directly to the audience (ie, breaking the fourth wall) about their work.

YES +2

The other piece here is 'identification with the aggressor', in which the victim of aggression or abuse identifies with the aggressor, or their role or approach, in some way, for various psychological reasons. So the idea here is that the broken fourth wall, as it were -- the broken boundary of the story -- proceeds by employing the same tactic that caused its own brokenness.

 

Unfortunately, the only ones left are the really hard ones. Plus, no Triumph to help us out. Did you ban him or something?

I know, right? He must be on vacation. Or maybe reading a really good annal or something.

[Quiconque]

The deadly thirteen:

 

456. Lost Property -- Something I have remarkably little experience with

 

I have never lost my phone, wallet, or keys, which I have been informed is "weird."

 

460. Diversion Control -- Ironic counterpart to the old Disambiguation Cage

 

The obvious reference here was to version control; the clue played on the parallel to the previous PDN 'Disambiguation Cage' (cf. disambiguation page) -- highlighting the possibility that an ostensibly helpful organizing function has become a hindrance (an entrapment or a distraction).

 

462. Safe Word Gauge -- In which Cloud is restrained, and takes damage

 

Without veering too far from family friendly, this one connects the limit break meter or gauge from some RPGs (which fills up as you take damage) with perhaps parallel activities involving a safe word -- which indeed would be used, much like a limit break, if one's limits are broken. I picked Cloud both as the main character of FF7 (probably the game most associated with limit breaks) and because his 'taciturn soldier' personality seemed appropriate for the scenario.

 

463. Wonderful Limitations -- Duke Ellington's prescription for everybody

 

"Personalized arranging is about arranging with all of the better characteristics of the performer in mind, with a deep consideration for the limitations of each one. Limitations are wonderful things. Everybody should have them." -- Duke Ellington

 

469. Lynchpin -- Helps keep a suspect class in their place; may be an ACME Chief

 

The linchpin for a lynching, perhaps. More happily, this also refers to Lynne Thigpen, who played the ACME Chief on the Carmen Sandiego game show, who helps to keep Carmen's suspected henchmen in their place, and who seems to be referred to as Chief Lynchpin in some places. (She was terrific.)

 

 

475. Tempestuous Winds and Gusts -- Roman Restoration offers a Trojan allusion

 

Okay, this one may be the most obnoxious clue I've had, and it's unfortunate it ended up in such a tough batch. The initial reference was to Marcus Andronicus' speech at the end of Titus Andronicus, in which he and Lucius are (much like Fortinbras in Hamlet) restoration figures:

 

 

You sad-faced men, people and sons of Rome,

By uproar sever'd, like a flight of fowl

Scatter'd by winds and high tempestuous gusts

 

This is all wrapped up in a metaphor comparing storms to political-personal mixings that doom the state, with mythological reference to Troy, as Marcus suggests a few lines later:

 

 

The story of that baleful burning night

When subtle Greeks surprised King Priam's Troy,

Tell us what Sinon hath bewitch'd our ears,

Or who hath brought the fatal engine in

That gives our Troy, our Rome, the civil wound.

 

479. Safety in Numbers -- Majoritarianism, unless you fail the identity test and plummet

 

The straightforward meaning here is that it's safe to be part of the majority in any majoritarian system that protects the majority; people whose identity excludes them from that group do not have safety in numbers. However, there's a more specific reference to 3 in Three, which may be seen here (halfway down the page, starting where the monitor reads "ENABLE RETURN"); the 3 fails the mathematical identity test (3 = 3) due to a system error, and is sent plummeting down to the Lifts. The particular location of that scene, the home of the numbers, so to speak, is called "Safety in Numbers" -- a title whose use becomes clearer when the 3 asserts, much later, that "all characters have access to the entire system" -- an admirably anti-majoritarian ideal.

 

 

480. Striking Silent Letter of Them All -- Snow White

 

Okay, this was another tricky one, and it's my fault for waffling on the clue. I think in the future I need to err on the side of give-away clues rather than tough ones for these. The reference here, though, was simply to the wicked queen's question from Snow White, suggesting here that "Snow White" has the most striking silent letter of them all -- the silent e that comes after the quasi-silent w of "snow" and h of "white."

 

483. Detales -- Modular counterpart to a whole story

 

A detale might be a detachable tale, and presumably, it would be more of a detail than the bigger story. I probably should have referenced Eeyore here.

 

488. _phantasmal coarticulation_ -- 1st-level linguist grammar in which sounds appear to spread

 

Coarticulation is what happens when the way we say a particular letter or sound, is influenced by the sounds that surround it. Usually, this is something we aren't aware of at all and don't consciously hear. Most commonly this just means vowels are pronounced a little bit differently, but here's a more shocking example in English: when we have a /t/ sound followed by an /r/ sound, we almost always pronounce the t as a /ch/ sound instead. Try it and listen carefully: it's pretty crazy the first time you hear it. So, phonetically, the 't' in words like "truck" is a bit of a phantom.

 

The other reference here is to phantasmal force, a 1st-level illusionist spell in most versions of D&D (and probably the most iconic D&D illusion spell in general).

 

490. Four Letter Patsy -- In M.P. Sex Row

 

This is a simple reference to a newspaper headline read aloud in one episode of Absolutely Fabulous: "Four Letter Patsy in M.P. Sex Row." I think this might have made a decent guess just based on the fact that both halves have British-sounding parts. How Nikki missed this I don't know. (Below is a different, later headline.)

 

 

499. O wad some Pow'r the giftsie gie us -- The Malachite Brooch, maybe

 

This one I was particularly proud of. Edgwyn appears to have correctly identified the PDN as a famous line from the Robert Burns poem "To A Louse," approximately 'oh would some power give us the gift...' Well, almost correctly. There has been one small edit. In the original, the word is "giftie." Now the PDN asks, would the GIFTSie give us something? Well, in the first game, they provide the party with the Malachite Brooch.

 

501. Sub Roma -- State secrets, maybe

 

Simply a play on the phrase sub rosa, meaning "in secret," suggesting something that is both secret and under the dominion of Rome, i.e., the state.

[Edgwyn]

I was way off on several of these and suffered greatly from understanding one half, not the other on a few. I had a different Duke Ellington quote, I got that ACME was Carmen San Diego but missed the rest of the clue, I was trying to connect Majoritarianism with John Major (GB's former PM) and the MP Sex Row with a recent revelation in the English parliament, for phantasmal coarticulation I was thinking a ghost or spirit talking simultaneously and could never be bothered to play an illusionist anyway, I missed the GIFTsie alteration and had forgotten that they supplied the Brooch.

[Owenmoz]

Not guesses. Since its over even, but i'd just like to say sorry for not participating much this time round. Mostly cause i've been very busy as well as; this was a harder one than usual?