The Outlandish Swap

J.H.R.C!

2011-07-06T23:47:00.001-04:00

Ye've done it again, lasses! Congrats to Clan Beauchamp!

Beauchamp: 766
Fraser: 265
MacKenzie: 252
Murray: 562

RESULTS!!!!!

2011-07-06T10:20:00.002-04:00

Part 4 - I Hear No Music but the Sound of Drums (the poems challenge)

We had 20 participants for this tricky challenge!

There were 12 perfect scores, so these lasses received an extra point for their teams: Caireann & Zella of Clan Murray, Eilis, Ealasaid Farquharson, Imogene, Elspeth, Bree, Morven, Brighde & Muirne of Clan Beauchamp, and Ciara & Magaidh of Clan Fraser.

We did have an early bird and a sneaker for this round: Caireann Murray was our early bird, and Mollie Mackenzie was our sneaker -- an extra point for each was also awarded for these accomplishments!

After a random drawing out of the "perfects" by one of my boys,
I'm happy to announce that Imogene Beauchamp has earned her clan an extra 5 points -- well done!

Scoring for this game:

Murray: 29 + 2 + 1 = 32
Beauchamp: 95 + 8 + 5 = 108
Fraser: 20 + 2 = 22
MacKenzie: 20 + 1 = 21

Part 5 - 'Tis Better to Marry Than to Burn

This was our Cryptogram/Anagram/Drop Quote game extravaganza that you had 2 weeks to complete! We had 11 competitors (3 Murray, 6 Beauchamp, 1 Mackenzie, & 1 Fraser), and 5 (4 Beauchamp & 1 Fraser) who submitted a participation point email. 7 of those 11 were perfect scores. Those with perfect scores received 1 extra point for their team. These lucky (hardworking!) lasses are: Caireann, Zella & Bea Murray, Nematona & Muirne Beauchamp, Kinley MacKenzie, and Magaidh Fraser!

Of those 7 lasses, the winner of the drawing is: Muirne Beauchamp! Congrats on an extra 5 points, lass!!

The early bird goes to Caireann Murray, and the sneaker to Magaidh Fraser, for an extra point, each.

In addition, I'm awarding 2 lasses who managed to answer every. single. question. of this challenge correctly -- the maximum points were 25, but there were 33.5 points available. Caireann Murray and Zella Murray both managed each and every one! You each have earned an additional 3 points for your team! Braw job, lasses!

Scoring for this challenge is as follows:

Murray: 96 + 3 + 5 +1 + 6 = 111
Beauchamp: 137 + 2 = 139
MacKenzie: 28 +1 = 29
Fraser: 26 +1 +1 = 28

Part 6 - War of the Regulation

25 competitors in this game -- we raided each others "project" pages to find things that Claire's family may have wanted to give her for her birthday.

No extra points for this one -- everyone who participated received 10 points.

Beauchamp: 120 pts
Fraser: 40
Murray: 60
MacKenzie: 30

Part 8 - A Hunting We Will Go

There were 9 participants, 4 murray's & 5 beauchamps! I was quite liberal with the scoring, so there were no extra points awarded for this one.

Thus this game's scores are as follows:

Clan Murray: 40
Clan Beauchamp: 41

...and that is all of the games, completely scored! I'll be adding them all up & posting the final scores this afternoon or evening, but I have a sneaking suspicion of who is the winner (again), and think you all do, too... ;)

Game 9 (book discussion) Results

2011-06-14T01:23:00.001-04:00

Fiona Fraser back to report some more game results...for our final game, the book discussion, we had a total of 17 participants (plus the chieftessess, but they were ineligible for point earning). The scoring for this game is a little different from the last one, so I've explained it below.

Each question you answered earned you 2 points. If you chimed in on all 4 discussions, you earned an extra 2 points (I'm lookin' at you, bartlebean, violetdawn, pepperpurl & georgethegirl!). As this was a team challenge, if you participated at all, you earned an additional point for your team (7-Beauchamp, 5-Murray, 4-Fraser, 1-MacKenzie).

In lieu of the early bird and the sneaker awards, bonus points were awarded to the person who garnered the most interest (i.e. the most clicks - 35, to be exact -- mostly in agrees), and the person who made the most contributions to the thread overall. In this case, both of these categories are won by the same lass...Pepperpurl! Congrats on earning an extra 2 points for clan Murray!

Our final points award is the random drawing by my boys, done of the participants who took part in all 4 discussions. Bartlebean is the winner of that one! Congrats on winning 5 points for clan Beauchamp!

Point totals for this game (participation points + 2 points for participating in all 4 discussions + number of participants from your clan + bonus points + 5pts to the drawing winner)

Beauchamp: 36 + 4 + 7 + 0 + 5 = 52
Murray: 26 + 4 + 5 + 2 + 0 = 37
Fraser: 12 + 0 + 4 + 0 + 0 = 16
MacKenzie: 4 + 0 + 1 + 0 + 0 = 5

Stay tuned for more game results this week!

Game results -- game 7

2011-06-12T22:18:00.002-04:00

We're a might out of order here, lasses, but we wanted to get you some results! We will be getting the results to games 4-6 (and 8) to you soon, don't worry. So without further ado... the participants were:

Beauchamp: Caroline, Ealasaid, Besse, Nemetona, Muirne, Lady NF, Elspeth

Fraser: Magaidh

MacKenzie: Mollie, Kinley

Murray: Caireann, Zella, Latharna, Ruadh, Bea

The lasses with perfect scores:

Perfect scores: Caireann, Caroline, Ealasaid, Magaidh, Zella, Besse, Nemetona, Mollie, Kinley, Bea, Elspeth

...and the extra point winners are:

Early Bird - Caireann

Sneaker - Ruadh

And of course all of those with perfect scores earn an extra point (which we did not add separately, but is there, I promise!), and one lucky lass from that group will win an extra 5 points

...and that lass is...(insert drumroll here):
Magaidh! Congrats!!

Point totals (for this game only) are as follows:

Beauchamp: 71

Fraser: 11 + 5 (perfect) = 16

MacKenzie: 22

Murray: 50 + 1 (EB) + 1 (Sn) = 52

Well done, to all, and we'll be back soon with more results!

Part 8 ~ Homework ~ A Hunting We Will Go

2011-05-04T00:01:00.002-04:00

For this wee homework assignment, we will ask you to list 5 things that Claire would have in her wee medicine basket (or stillroom) and their uses Find a picture of this item and post it to the HOMEWORK thread on Ravelry. For example, if your find is a heart/lung bypass machine, please show us a book reference from Part 8 where she would use the Heart/Lung machine or has one, and post the picture. If someone prior to you has used this item, you have to find a different item. The photo reference can be off-ravelry.
This assignment is for the good sisters, not for the chieftesses. Please include your swap name and clan name in the post (not everyone uses a clan badge and it helps us). The homework assignment is due on May 10th at midnight, ET.
Good luck, lasses.

Mordag and Fiona

Alarms of Struggle and Flight

2011-04-27T00:01:00.002-04:00

Good sisters,

Here is a wee quiz based on part 7 of the book - Alarms of Struggle and Flight. In this challenge, there are two columns - one of names, the other is something to match up with one of the given names. Please submit your answers to highlandergames (at) ymail (dot) com with the word TRIVIA in the subject line. Also, please include your swap name and your clan so we can give you proper credit.

Brianna               Afraid of thunder, killed by lightening
Deborah            Discovered bat skeleton in amulet
Isaiah Morton     Nom de Plume
Jackson Jolly      Had a feral eye for the school teacher
James MacQuiston   Called the birds
Josiah                 Received 5000 acres as compensation
Judas                 Proclaimed the bear has special scratching trees
Obadiah             Solicited the Bear-Killer
Roger               Performed Tarot readings
Tsatsa'wi            Wagoner for Sherston's Brewery

Please submit your answers by Tuesday, May 3rd at midnight.

Respectfully submitted,

Mordag Murray and Fiona Fraser

Adso's Ridge & Favorite Things Results

2011-04-19T23:43:00.003-04:00

Lasses, well done on the games thus far! We now have the results from the "Marsali" (Adso's Ridge, this time around) game based on section #2, and the "Favorite Things" homework based on section #3 ready for you to see!

Adso's Ridge:

Participants:
Clan Beauchamp: Lady North Facing, Imogene, Caroline, Elspeth, Ealasaid, Muirne, Morven, Nemetona

Clan Fraser: Jeanette, Eirinn, Ciara, Magaidh

Clan MacKenzie: Ide, Jessie, Kinley

Clan Murray: Caireann, Bea, Ceana, Zella

Perfect Scores:
Caireann Murray, Bea Murray, Kinley MacKenzie and Ciara Fraser! An extra point for each o' the four of ye, lasses -- well done!

Winner (of perfect scores, by drawing from the children's wooden tea set -- the sugar bowl worked quite well!): Kinley MacKenzie!! Congrats, lass, ye've won your clan 5 extra points!

Additional Bonuses:
Early Bird: Caireann Murray
Sneaker: Magaidh Fraser (11:54 pm)
Congrats, lasses -- an extra point, each!

Scores:
Beauchamp: 55
Fraser: 33 + 1 (perfect) + 1 (sneaker) = 35
MacKenzie: 25 + 1(perfect) + 5(winner) = 31
Murray: 39 + 2 (perfect) + 1 (early bird) = 42

**************************************************

Favorite Things:

Participants:

Beauchamp: Eilis, Nemetona, Muirne, Suisan, Caroline, Brighde, Sineag, Isobel, Lady North Facing, Elspeth, Imogene, Morven, Alyth, Bree, Ealasaid

Fraser: Eirinn, Ciara, Magaidh, Jullienne, Lileas, Rhona, Jocasta, Fiona, Aileen

MacKenzie: Rhona, Eadgyth, Ceitidh, Isabelle, Jessie, Seonag, Kinley, Rayanne, Ide, Mollie.

Murray: Mordag, Ruadh, Chloe, Bea, Ceana, Caireann, Toireasa, Marsali, Latharna, Arafel, Zella, Eileen, Meadth, Leigh

Scores:
Beauchamp: 150
Fraser: 90
MacKenzie: 100
Murray: 140

Thanks to all the lasses for playing. You have earned 10 points for your team, and you have helped your spoiler get to know you better!

*********************************************

Final scores as of part #3 can be found on the sidebar. :)

-Respectfully submitted, Mordag Murray & Fiona Fraser

'Tis Better to Marry Than Burn

2011-04-13T00:01:00.029-04:00

Lasses, Ye've been doing a braw job on all of the challenges we have set your way. This time, we have a three part challenge but ye have two weeks to complete it. Still check in every week on Ravelry.

For this challenge, we will ask ye to solve a crypto list, a Drop Quote puzzle and some anagrams. The puzzles will be here, but send your answers to highlandergames (at) ymail (dot) com.

Crypto Families: Each puzzle contains a list of related words with a simple, unique substitution code. The heading for each puzzle gives a hint as to the types of words. Each of the words are in the book, but you really don't need your book to solve the words. You just need to figure out the code. The key to solve the first crypto family is different from both the second one and the third. Good luck!

People (max 5 points)

WOWOIW FJCC AILOCYXW
UAIJSEJ
FJYYH
VXNIBYI OWWJB
AJELIW AGBFIWS
UAOCCOU PHCOJ
QIYAJE CJNCJEN
BYJUAJW FXWWJY
LIVXE SXWICS LINSXWICS

And they're off :(max 5 points)

LSIQA FBIUSY
TJKBDM
QIUN RDUYB
SI LBSSB QSIJUB
YNISSJDM
SXQIY
QSIUBMQB
NRDUDXTRLUBK
HUJBYJIMY
NBYYI

A Mac Donald by any other name: (max 3.5 points)

ODTHQO _________
___________ DZ YQLHW
KHXDA ___________
___________ DZ WNL UYQLY
ADELAW ____________ DZ YWDATDFHI
___________ DZ SQHTAHTHQO
___________ DZ BLVVDSN

Drop Quotes: (5 points for each one)

Here is a link to the drop quotes. To solve a drop quote, the game is simple. Each puzzle contains a hidden quote, with the spaces for each letter in that quote laid out in a typical crossword puzzle-type black and white grid. Above each column are a series of letters. Simply "drop" each letter into the appropriate squares in each row and column to reveal the hidden quote. Each quote is in Part Five of the book, but it is not necessary to have a paper copy of the book to solve the quotes.

Anagrams: ( max 5 points)

For the anagrams, try to find a name of someone who is or is mentioned in this sectioned by rearranging the letters.

Hey, it will
Heft her ant, ken?
A fine, left owl nut
Ahem, sun salon
Cement line
Arm can no more
Chug back meal horn
Her room accent
Zinc ace on mum elk

Drunken arc

Maximum points for each part is listed next to each quiz. Mix and match your challenge for a total of 25 points (this is for two weeks). Please submit your answers by midnight on April 27th.

Part 6 ~ The War of the Regulation

2011-04-06T00:01:00.004-04:00

'Tis almost time for Jaime's birthday, and when we celebrate birthdays, or are preparing to, we usually ask what can we get for the birthday person. With Claire at his side, Jamie needs very little. Instead of presents for Himself, we will be thinking about Claire. What can we get or make for Claire. No time to make anything so we will go raiding. Your assignment ~ find two projects (two different kinds of projects) in your spoilee's profile that Claire would find useful, and explain why. Now, find two different kinds of projects in your spoiler's profile that Brianna would make for Claire and explain why, and lastly - find one project in your own profile that Mrs. Bug would want Claire to have and explain why. This is almost too easy, so I will add a few things to this - all of the project pages must have been created prior to April 5th and you should be showing us 5 different types of projects with 5 different explanations. One point for each project listed, one point for each explanation. Because we don't all fill out our project pages, if you cannot find something on your spoilees project page you can use her chieftess' project page. The same applies to your spoilers project page and your own. If you have any questions, please ask in the Games thread on Ravelry or PM me. Please send your answers to Highlandergames (at) ymail (dot) com with Claire in the subject line. Also, please include your clan and swap name in the email. Good luck, lasses! Mordag and Fiona

Part 4 ~ I Hear no Music but the Sound of Drums

2011-03-30T00:01:00.003-04:00

Good Sisters,

We all hear a different drummer and that means we sometimes interpret things a little differently as well. For this wee quiz, we will give you one stanza from 5 different poems. Please tell us what each poem is about. (1 point each). For an extra 2 points per poem, please send us a (loose) translation.

The maximum points for this challenge is 10, so you need not do the entire challenge. Please send your answers to highlandergames (at) ymail (dot) com with the word poem in the subject line of your email, and include your swap and clan name in the email. Nemetona willna be participating in this challenge as she helped us set it up) so Chieftess Eilis will be filling in for her.

#1)
The flaunting flow'rs our gardens yield,
High shelt'ring woods and wa's maun shield;
But thou, beneath the random bield
O' clod or stane,
Adorns the histie stibble-field,
Unseen, alane.

#2)
Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie,
Oh, what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi' bickering brattle!
I was be laith to rin an' chase thee,
Wi' murd'ring pattle!

#3)
Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang's my arm.

#4)
Hear me, Auld Hangie, for a wee,
An' let poor damn'd bodies be;
I'm sure sma' pleasure it can gie,
Ev'n to a deil,
To skelp an' scaud poor dogs like me
An' hear us squeel.

#5)
My curse upon your venom'd stang,
That shoots my tortur'd gooms alang,
An' thro' my lug gies monie a twang
Wh' gnawing vengeance,
Tearing my nerves wi' bitter pang,
Like racking engines!

Good luck, lasses. Fiona and Mordag

Results from Game 1, the Interactive Book Discussion

2011-03-22T23:28:00.003-04:00

Lasses, Our first game is complete and we are now chatting with our new spoilees and spoilers and getting reacquainted with our clan. This was a very different challenge and it was great to see everyone share their thoughts on the different characters and answer our questions. For each of the questions, we had a phrase that would have earned your clan an extra point.

Question 1: Claire and the Scottish hospitality -- buzz phrase: Outlander/Sassenach/Englishness

Question 2: Tradition -- buzz phrase: Baptism

Question 3: Honor --buzz phrase: parole

Question 4: Claire as healer/herbalist --buzz phrase: draco seeds/alternative medicines

Question 5: Roger gentle/weak? -- buzz phrase: Roger's wedding present to Bree ( or Duncan's to Jocasta)

We would like to offer an extra point to Magaidh of Clan Fraser for mentioning Claire's Englishness, and thus having a different opinion on hospitality, and to Latharna Murray for offering alternative medicines that Claire used.

For the discussions in general, we went through each post to give the main scores for the challenge. This was truly a clan challenge, but there are a few noteworthy posters - Jeannette of Clan Fraser had the most loves (8) on any one post, Chloe of Clan Murray had the most posts per question and the most overall - 47 posts. Well done lasses! You have earned a special bonus point for your clans!

Points were awarded to each clan based on the number of participants in each question. If you participated in each question/topic, you earned your clan at least 5 points (one for each question). An additional point went to the person who earned the highest number of love, agree, funny, interesting, and disagree clicks in their posts per question (no educationals were used at all). There was no sneaker or early bird award in this game.

The scoring is as follows: participant points + click points + special bonus points + buzz phrase points = total

Beauchamp: 23 + 7 = 30

Fraser: 15 + 1 + 1 + 1= 18

MacKenzie: 12 + 2 = 14

Murray: 28 + 18 + 1 + 1 = 48

Well done, Lasses!

-Mordag & Fiona

Quiz 2 ~ The Marsali Game

2011-03-16T03:01:00.002-04:00

For this quiz we have taken the Ruler of the Ridge's name and we ask that you find something in each of the following categories that begin with each letter in his name ~ ADSO. Oops, not enough letters here so we will make it Adso's Ridge, or for the game ~ A D S O R I G E.

There are 2 D's and 2 S's but you only need to find one D and one S word for each category. We also ask that all of your answers are from Section 2 of the Fiery Cross, but your answers do not have to be what one might find as ordinary. And you can only use one thing for each of thing for each letter in any given category. An example of this can be found earlier in the series when young Germaine puts a cockroach in his mouth. Under the category of Targets, you could use ROACH or INSECT, but not both unless you could find another insect being the Target of someone's snack. But you could repeat ROACH or INSECT if wee Ian had said it was a tradition for the Mohawk to eat cockroaches to celebrate the Hunter's Moon. Same critter, different category - it would work. But as this part of the story is not in this section, these answers would not work for this challenge. And because neither Roach nor Insect are normal Targets, nor are they normal Traditions, I would ask that you tell me why you think it is.

We dinna ken if there is an A, D, S, O, R, I, G, and an E for each category, but we do ken that most of the letters can be found for each category. With your imagination, you may just be able to completely fill each category. But remember, only one of each of the above letters will count for each category.

Another example from a previous challenge that was similar - under the category of Weapons, 'Ink Bottle' was used and then explained that Lord John threw an ink bottle at a rat. I had a lot of fun reading your answers. We look forward to seeing just what you will find.

Target letters: A D S O's R Id G E or A ~ D ~ S ~ O ~ R ~ I ~ G ~ E

Categories: Targets, Blessings, Traditions, People and Guidance

Target - the item we are aiming for (see example above)
Blessings - things that we count ourselves lucky to have or to experience
Traditions - something inherited or customary
People - well, the 2 legged critters whose names are found in this section. Their name can only count once, so if Diana Gabaldon could be used (which she cannot), you could use her under D for Diana or G for Gabaldon. Not both. And while Adso might think he is a person, he is not. Neither is the white sow.
Guidance - where do we turn for help? Any noun will do, as long as that person, place or thing begins with A, D, S, O, R, I, G or E and is found in this section. Guidance comes in many forms ~ I turn to my cookbook for guidance if I am making something I am not familiar with or to my Aunt Dotsy if I need help with knitting. (my aunt is long gone, so it is more what I think she would do) My DS turns to the internet for all forms of Guidance (map, directions, research, instruction manual and even how to do a 3 point turn for his drivers license. Oddly, the internet told him the same thing his mother did.)

Imaginations are encouraged. And if you can rationalize it, in the past the point was always given. We won't break with tradition.

1 point for every 4 answers given, max 10 points.

Please submit your answers to highlandergames (at) ymail (dot) com
with marsali in the subject line. To help us identify you, please include your rav name, your swap name and your clan. All answers must be received by Midnight ET on March 22nd.

Game 1 In Media Res

2011-03-01T07:30:00.000-05:00

For this first challenge we will be having a wee discussion. It will involve the first section of Fiery Cross. Please visit the special Games Thread that we have set up for that challenge. The results will be posted here sometime after the challenge.

2011-03-01T07:00:00.002-05:00

Good Sisters,

Welcome to the Games and Challenges section of our Fiery Cross Swap. We will be doing things a wee bit different this time. Some of the games will be posted here, some on Ravelry. Some of the responses should be sent to our email account (highlandergames (at) ymail (dot) com and some of them should be posted to the games thread on Ravelry. We will try to be as clear as possible, but if you should have any questions at all, please send a message to either Mordag (abitknottie on Rav) or Fiona (cinnamonamon) on Rav). Or ask it in the general games chat thread. I am sure you won't be the only one with that question.

Who will participate in the games? All of the clan sisters, with the exception of the clan chieftesses, unless otherwise noted.

Our games schedule will follow this schedule:
Game 1: March 1 until March 15 Location: On Ravelry - Games Thread. Open to all swap participants but points will only be awarded to the clan sisters, not the chieftesses
Quiz 2: March 16 - March 22 Location: Here ~ responses sent to ymail account
Homework 3: March 23 - 29 Location: On Ravelry - Games Thread. Open to all swap participants.
Quiz 4: March 30 - April 5 - Location: Here ~ responses sent to ymail account
Game 5: April 6 - 19 - Location: Here ~ responses sent to ymail account
Homework 6: April 20 - April 26 Location: Here ~ with responses sent to ymail account
Quiz 7: April 27 - May 3 Location: Here ~ with responses sent to ymail account
Homework 8: May 4 - May 10 Location: Ravelry - Games Thread
Game 9: May 11 - May 24 Location: Here ~ responses sent to ymail account

We hope you enjoy the new format and the new games we have added.

Respectfully submitted,

Mordag and Fiona

The Gathering Winner

2010-08-24T00:06:00.001-04:00

My boy Ian has allowed his dinosaur to draw the name for the last highland game...

Congrats, Bea Murray! Ye've won your clan an extra 5 points! Braw job, lass!!
My boy Ian has allowed his dinosaur to draw the name for the last highland game...

The Gathering

2010-08-22T09:48:00.000-04:00

Well, lasses, it is with a heavy heart that we gather here to celebrate the end of our Drums of Autumn swap. But celebrate indeed! There have been some beautiful sporrans received and it is great to see how everybody interpreted the book and turned it into a wonderful gift for a new friend. Our next swap, based on Fiery Cross, will begin with a Gathering as well. We do look forward to that.

Our last challenge, The Gathering, was sponsored by your chieftesses so we did not get to play. It was a logic puzzle and it was the first time one of these were used. There were a few puzzles this swap that were used for the first time, and a few that were previously enjoyed so they were brought back. There was a great variety of games and we hoped everyone enjoyed the challenges.

The answers:
For Claire's impromptu luncheon at the Gathering, the 5 young ladies, what they brought, how they got to the Gathering and where they traveled from are as follows:
Brianna brought corn and scotch, rode in a wagon from Frasers Ridge.
Catriona brought stew and beer, traveled by horse from Wilmington.
Jocelyn brought haggis and ale and walked from Jamestown.
Serease brought cake and wine and traveled by boat from Cape Fear.
And Wynda brought bridies and coffee and traveled by donkey from New Bern.

29 Lasses submitted answers to the challenge out of a possible 56. That is 52 % and a verra nice number indeed! And of those 29, 15 of them were perfect scores. Braw job, lassies!

Perfect scores were received from Sineag, Muirne, Elspeth, Isobel and Morven (of Beauchamp), Vika, Phaedra and Isla of Fraser, Kinley, Aislinn, Imogene and Ide of MacKenzie, and Caireann, Bea and Ceana of Murray. (The bolded names are the lasses who were among the first 10 with perfect scores.)

The Players:
Clan Beauchamp: Entries were recieved from Sineag, Muirne, Elspeth, Isobel, Morven, Nemetona, Caroline and Ealasaid Farquharson
Clan Fraser: Entries were recieved from: Vika, Phaedra, Isla, Bonny May and Nannag.
From the MacKenzies we heard from: Kinley, Aislinn, Imogene, Ide, Kellan, Sophia, Ceanna, Catriona Mac, Mrs. Fitz, Catriona Duncan and Eadgyth.
And from the Murrays: Caireann, Bea, Ceana, Zella and Eileen.
Well done, lasses!

Early bird goes to Caireann of Clan Murray. Her response was received at 8:27 am on 8/13.
Sneaker goes to Eileen of Clan Murray. Her response was received at 9:27 on 8/20.

The Score:
Beauchamp: 58 + 4EP + 8 P = 70
Fraser: 30 + 2 EP + 5 P = 37
MacKenzie: 48 + 2 EP + 11 P = 61
Murray: 41 + 1 EB + 2 EP + 5 P + 1 SN = 52 +
5 (game winner) = 57

EB = Early Bird
EP = Early Perfect (first 10 perfect scores)
P = Participation
SN = Sneaker

The names of the 15 lasses wi' perfect scores will be going into a hat and the winner will be drawn. Before we do that, please make sure that if you sent something in, you see your name above.

Thanks for playing along with us. We enjoyed the swap, the games, getting to know our old Outlander friends better, getting to know our new Outlander friends and seeing and sharing all of the sporrans.

Respectfully submitted,

Your Chieftesses: Eilis, Fiona, Mordag and Seonag

Beauchamp Challenge 2: Answers and Winners

2010-08-22T01:45:00.000-04:00

Thank ye ladies for taking time from alternating heat and rain to partake of our challenge. Entries were received from 26 lasses out of a total 45 possible participants (Beauchamps got to sit this one out). We hope you all enjoyed our game.

ANSWERS

Scrabble #1: Roger MacKenzie

CINEMA-GOER RECOGNIZER REORGANIZE ENERGIZER GEOMANCER MENAGERIE MERCERIZE ORGANIZER RECOGNIZE RECORKING REMARKING RERACKING ARMIGERO COMAKING CRANKIER CREAKIER CREAKING CREAMIER CREAMING CROAKIER CROAKING EMCEEING ENERGIZE GERMANIC GREENIER GRIMACER MONICKER ORANGIER ORGANIZE RAZORING REGAINER REMAKING ROMANCER ROMANIZE

Scrabble #2: Kakonhoaerhas

SHOEHORN ANORAKS HARKENS HARSHEN HOARSEN HONKERS HOOKAHS HOOKERS HOORAHS KARAOKE KRAKENS ONSHORE SENORAS SNOOKER ANORAK ARENAS ASHORE HARKEN HERONS HOARSE HONKER HONORS HOOKAH HOOKER HOORAH KOSHER KRAKEN KROONS REASON REHASH RESOAK SENORA SHAKEN SHAKER SHRANK

Scrabble #3: Pere Alexandre Ferigault

PREFERENTIAL REFRIGERATED ULTRAREFINED ALEXANDRITE DEFERENTIAL EXPENDITURE PREARRANGED REDEFEATING REEXPELLING REFRIGERANT REFRIGERATE REGENERATED REREGULATED REREPEATING DEFAULTING DEGENERATE DERAILLEUR DEREGULATE ENRAPTURED FEDERATING FLATLANDER GENERATRIX GRANULATED GRAPEFRUIT GUARANTEED INTERFERED INTERFERER LATERALING LEAFLETING PLATEAUING PREARRANGE PREFERRING PREFIGURED PREGENITAL PRETRAINED PRUDENTIAL READAPTING REALTERING REARRANGED REDRAFTING REEXPELLED REFEREEING REFILTERED REFUELLING REGENERATE REINFLATED REINTERRED REPANELLED REPLEADING REREGULATE REREPEATED RETREADING RINGLEADER TRIANGULAR ULTRARAPID UNFILTERED UNILATERAL

Morph #1: From Free to Sold in 6 steps

free - fred - feed - teed - toed - told - sold

FREE, tree, tred, toed, told, SOLD

FREE, pree, pred, poed, toed, told, SOLD

free, cree, cred, coed, cold, sold

Morph #2: From Grace to Faith in 7 steps or less

grace - grape - gripe - grips - grits - frits - faits - faith

GRACE, trace, trice, trite, frite, frith, FAITH

GRACE GRADE GRADS GRIDS GRITS GAITS FAITS FAITH

grace, trace, trice, trite, brite, brith, frith, faith

Morph #3: From Black to Death in 8 steps or less

black - blank - flank - flans - flats - feats - heats - heath - death

black block blocs blots blats beats heats heath death

BLACK, plack, place, plate, plats, peats, heats, heath, DEATH

black, brack, brach, beach, beath, death

Morph #4: From Tell to Hear in 3 steps or less

tell - hell - heal - hear

tell teal tear hear

Morph #5: From Fuse to Bomb in 7 steps or less

fuse -fuss - muss - moss - toss - toms - tomb - bomb

Fuse fuss buss boss boas boab bomb

fuse fume fame came come comb bomb

fuse fume fame dame dome come comb bomb

FUSE MUSE MUSS MOSS TOSS TOMS (male turkeys, not multiple Thomases) TOMB BOMB

FUSE-MUSE-MUST-MOST-MOOT-BOOT-BOOB-BOMB

fuse - ruse - rose - rote - tote - tome - tomb - bomb

OR LESS: FUSE, fume, fame, tame, tome, tomb, BOMB (Thanks, JPillsbury)

SCORING

6 Frasers: 4 ten-point scores were received from LCBraun, ToniLee, CurlyKat, and Cinnamonamon. Additional responses were received from BlueMoonRanch and FinnGarian.

13 Mackenzies: 6 ten-point scores were received from CursedGreenSwtr, AnnaEd, BlackMoonDog, JPillsbury, Jules1960, and TheKnitDr . Additional responses were received from StickPixie, SixGunSally, Esuzabeth, Neila, DurableDora, Rhenbo, and KnitMo.

7 Murrays: 3 ten-point scores were received from VioletDawn, Abitknottie, and ImgonnaPurl. Additional responses were received from Cabrita, KigeliaKitten, TheresaMG, and JustaJenJen.

The ladies in blue italics each receive an extra early submission bonus point for being among the first 10 to submit a 10-point answer. If you sent in your challenge and dinna see your name above, please let us know so we can adjust your clan's scores.

Our Earlybird Award goes to VioletDawn of Clan Murray. Her response was received at 11:11 a.m. on Friday, August 6th. Well done, lass! Your clan earned a point. And our Sneaker Award goes to not one but two ladies, BlueMoonRanch of Clan Fraser and JustaJenJen of Clan Murray. Both responses were received at 11:58 p.m. on Wednesday, August 11th. Both ladies submitted entries (not participation points) so both have earned a point for their clan.

A special Perfect Score Award goes to VioletDawn, AbitKnottie, CursedGreenSwtr, AnnaEd, and JPillsbury. Each lady earns an extra point for her clan for answering all 8 questions correctly! Way to go!

The Time Traveling Wittiness Award goes to ImgonnaPurl who couldn't quite make 'grace morph to faith' in 7 easy steps. But she was quite creative in calling upon the special skills of another famous Time Traveler: grace - brace - brack - crack - in the universe - Amy and the Doctor - Tardis explodes - faith (in Dr Who saving the universe). Gotta give her a point for creativity that relates to the book!

And the Winner is . . .

All sisters with a 10 or better score . . .

. . . went into a project bag . . .

. . . and the name pulled out by my dear niece is . . .

Mrs. Fitzgibbons of Clan MacKenzie

Congratulations Mrs Fitz! You have earned an extra 5 points for your clan!

THE FINAL SCORE (for this round)
Fraser: 48 + 6 participation + 2 early submission bonus pints + 1 sneaker = 57
Mackenzie: 77 + 13 participation + 3 perfect scores + 6 early submission bonus points + 5 winner = 105
Murray: 37 + 7 participation + 2 perfect scores+ 2 early submission bonus points + 1 earlybird + 1 sneaker + 1 wittiness award = 51

The Gathering

2010-08-13T00:00:00.000-04:00

The Gathering

Claire and Jamie finally go to a Gathering and Claire decided to hold a luncheon to introduce Brianna to social customs and events in her new time. Claire sent word to several of the ladies there and asked them to each bring something to eat or drink that begins with the first initial of one of the guests. The guests included: Brianna, Catriona, Jocelyn, Serease and Wynda. None of the ladies brought anything that began with the initial of their first name, nor did they travel by any means that shared either their own first initial or either of the things they brought.

As an ice breaker, Claire asks all of the ladies to guess what everyone brought, where they traveled from and how they traveled to the Gathering. To get everyone started, she told her guests that she and Brianna traveled from Frasers Ridge.

From the clues given, can you match up each of the ladies that came to the luncheon with what they brought and where they came from? Place an X in each of the boxes to indicate a wrong answer and an O to show that mark the correct answer. If you need a wee bit more help, check out this link. If you still need a bit more help, you can buy an O. They cost 1 point each, for a max of 5 O's. But be specific. That can be asked on the Games thread, and I will respond by PM.

Once you have the correct answers, send me each guest’s name with the correct information about them. As always, please send your answers to: Highlandergames (at) ymail (dot) com in the following format:

example: Claire – oat cakes, tea, Frasers Ridge, stones

Please put GATHERING in the subject line, and include your swap name, your clan and your rav name.

The clues:
1. Neither the woman who brought corn and scotch nor the one who brought coffee traveled by boat. Either the woman who brought the ale or the one who brought the beer lives in Wilmington. All five women are mentioned here.
2. Wynda hoped her sister didn’t get seasick on her travels this year.
3. Brianna couldn’t wait to eat what Wynda brought. It reminded her of the food she and Lizzie shared when they first met.
4. The woman from Jamestown enjoyed the wine brought by Serease and the stew brought by the woman who traveled by horse.
5. Catriona observed that only one of the women came from a place that began with their first initial.
6. Jocelyn was happy to come to the luncheon. She didn’t know any other women at the Gathering. She had never heard of Frasers Ridge or New Bern before.
7. Claire noticed that the woman from Jamestown was limping and discovered that she had walked to the Gathering.
8. The woman from New Bern brought either coffee or scotch.
9. Ale and haggis were brought by either Jocelyn or Wynda.

The chieftesses would like to thank all of you for coming to this Gathering and taking part in our swap. We hope to see you all back at the next Gathering - with the Fiery Cross.

Mordag, Eilis, Fiona, Seonag.

Murray Challenge Winner

2010-08-09T13:40:00.000-04:00

The results are in. The 11 perfect scores were entered into a basket:

I drew out one of them:

Oops... It should be Ide MacKenzie.

Congrats Ide! You have won an additional 5 points for your clan.

Beauchamp Challenge, Part Deux

2010-08-06T07:31:00.000-04:00

Ladies!

Welcome to Section 11 -- a book-free area. With a nod to Section 11 of the book, this week’s challenge features two types of games:

-- What’s in a Name! – a Scrabble word game
-- Transitions! – a word morph game

As with all Highland Games challenges, the maximum possible points one can earn is 10. But, ye can earn them by completing a combination of the following puzzles.

WHAT’S IN A NAME! is a “words-in-a-word” game that will present you with a name (like Jamie Fraser). All you have to do is to find all the eligible words contained in that name. Here are the rules, which follow standard Scrabble rules:

Found words should contain the number of letters listed for the origin name.
Proper nouns do not count, i.e., wolf counts; Wolfe does not
Found words must be a commonly used English word; “exotic” words are not eligible
Duplicates don't count.
For each name, earn 1 point for every four words of the identified length found, with a maximum of 3 points per name

Example: Claire Beauchamp (all words 9 or more letters) results in the following words with 9 or more letters: amicable, bicameral, bleacher, chemical, cherubim, crucible, impeachable, impeccable, peculiar, preamble, reachable, republic.

Scrabble #1: Roger Mackenzie (all words 8 or more letters) = max 3 points
Scrabble #2: Kakonhoaerhas (all words 6 or more letters) = max 3 points
Scrabble #3: Pere Alexandre Ferigault (all words 10 or more letters) = max 3 points

TRANSITIONS! is a word morph game where you change one letter in the starting word to form a new word. Repeat the process until you spell the ending word. Here are the rules:

Proper nouns do not count, i.e., wolf counts; Wolfe does not
Morphed words must be in common English usage; “exotic” words are not eligible
Earn 1 point for each completed transition, for a maximum of 5 points for this puzzle.

Example: morphing from "head" to "foot" takes five moves:

HEAD
1.    BEAD – H was changed to B
2.    BEAT – D was changed to T
3.    BOAT– E was changed to O
4.    BOOT – A was changed to O
5.    FOOT – B was changed to F

Morph #1: FREE to SOLD in 6 moves or less
“I was born free,” Ulysses tells Brianna. “The carpenter … claimed that as I was the child of a slave, I was by law a slave myself. And so, he sold me.”

Morph #2: GRACE to FAITH in 7 moves or less
“[I] refuse to baptize infants unless both parents were Christian and in a state of grace” Alexandre confessed to Roger. “This is necessary, you understand, if the child is to be raised in faith.”

Morph #3: BLACK to DEATH in 8 moves or less
“Black is for death; prisoners who are to be killed are always painted so,” the girl explained in telling Claire the story of Otter-Tooth. “You knew this when you met the man on the mountain.”

Morph #4: TELL to HEAR in 3 moves or less
“But a man is not forgotten, as long as there are two people left under the sky.” declared Tewaktenyonh as she questioned how Claire came to possess Otter-Tooth’s opal. “One, to tell the story; the other, to hear it.”

Morph # 5: FUSE to BOMB in 7 moves or less
“I said, it’s no time we have to be wasting! Did ye not hear your man sayin’ that the fuses are lit?” Bonnet said to Brianna. “It’ll go off like a bomb!”

As with all Highland Game challenges:

1 bonus point goes to each of the first 10 perfect (i.e., 10 point) submissions
1 point each goes for the first submission (early bird) and the last before the deadline (sneaker)
5 points to the winner

We hope you enjoy the challenges.

Your Beauchamp Sisters

Murray Challenge, The Results

2010-08-05T15:23:00.000-04:00

Lasses,

There were 25 of you that rose to this week’s challenge. You did your clans proud. The challenges were a little different this week and Clan Murray was not able to snatch 5 points from any of the clans. Here are the answers:

The Crossword:
1. Childbirth
2. Iroquois
3. Highlander
4. Wormwood
5. Bonnet
6. Frasers
7. Ian
8. Ring

(We dinna mark off for spelling if it dinna affect the other word. We ken what ye meant.)

ANAGRAMS:
ronnie sinclair - acorn in line, sir
roger wakefield - a deer wig for elk
germaine fraser - raise a fern germ
kenny lindsey - skinny lye den
dougal mackenzie - a deck. a mule. no zig.
geilie duncan - i nudge in lace

QUOTAGRAMS

Quote #1: “Sassenach, I can stand fine bein’ hurt, cold, and hungry. I wilna put up wi’ being stabbed in the back by my own wife. Can ye not offer a bit of sympathy and comfort instead?”
Quote #2: “Aye, well. I seem to recall hearin’ a verra similar opinion expressed by your mother - the night before our wedding. I havena asked her lately does she regret bein’ forced to wed me or not, but I flatter myself she’s maybe not been miserable altogether.”

Answers to the clues are available upon request, but I do want to include the special one I did for Eilis, which she found:
Some consider this a clan. Is it? (65 - 88 - 49 - 53 - 11 - 72 - 2 - 80 - 111) 9 letters
The answer: Beauchamp
Eilis is the only one who answered the second part of the quesion, Is it? And we all ken how she answered.

The Scoring:

Perfect scores:
Beauchamp: Muirne, Morven, Bree, Eilis
Fraser: Nannag and Fiona
MacKenzie: Annaed, Catriona Duncan, Mrs Fitz, Kinley, Seonag
(italicized ones were the first 10 to be received.

The Players:
Beauchamp: Muirne, Morven, Lady NF, Nemetona, Ealasaid, Bree, Eilis, Elspeth, Isobel, Imogene, Caroline and Sineag
Fraser: Nannag, Fiona, and Jocasta Walkley
MacKenzie: Sophia, Ceanna, Annaed, Kellan, Catriona Duncan, Mrs Fitz, Kinley, Catriona Mac, Imogen, Ide and Seonag

Points:
Beauchamp: 88 (12 for participation, 4 bonus for being among the first 10 correct, 1 for finding the challenge within the challenge)
Fraser: 26 (3 participation, 2 bonus for being among the first 10 correct, 1 Early Bird)
Mac: 78 (10 for participation, 4 bonus for being among the first 10 correct, 1 sneaker, 3 bonus over-achiever for answering every challenge correctly) + 5 for winner = 83

Special awards and accolades:

Early Bird: Nannag of Clan Fraser ~ her entry was received at 5:53 pm on July 31st.
Sneaker: Seonag of Clan MacKenzie ~ her entry was received at 11:59 pm on August 4th.
Over-Achiever: Ide, Seonag and Catriona Duncan of Clan Mac for completing all of the challenges
Morven of Clan Beauchamp for figuring out that one of the challenges was from a different section of the book.

There will be 11 names to choose from for the Challenge winner. Results to be posted later.

If you dinna see your name, please let us know so we can add you to the list.

Respectfully submitted,

Mordag Murray

fraser challenge II winner

2010-08-02T00:25:00.000-04:00

so many names in the hat this week!!

my third boy, Ian, who has, I'm sorry to say, no super-special hat of his own......drawing the name from a dress-up knight's helmet (he really doesn't always look so...cracked out, lol. he kept blinking or something!
And the lucky winner is, Ceanna MacKenzie!!! Congrats, lass -- you're won an extra 5 points for your team & a bittie prize from the Fraser lasses! :)

Murray Challenge II

2010-07-30T00:00:00.000-04:00

Lasses,

We see that many of you are just breezing right through all of these challenges without breaking a sweat, so we are stepping it up a notch. We are offering 3 types of challenges - a crossword puzzle, anagrams, and cryptograms. Dinna fash - pick your favorite and earn up to 10 points.

When ye solve all of the puzzles, please send the answers to highlandergames (at) ymail (dot) com and put Murray in the subject line.

Pour yerself a wee dram, sharpen yer pencil and pull up a stool. We wish ye good luck.

The Murray Sisters

CROSSWORD PUZZLE
For the crossword puzzle, solve the clues - earn 1 point for every 2 words, max for the crossword is 4 points. You dinna need to send in the puzzle, just the answers to each of the clues.

Across:
1. In most places, a fifty-fifty, proposition
4. Only herb Claire might be able to use on Brianna
7. Who proposed to Brianna?
8. How Jamie and Ian find out who raped Brianna
Down:
2. Who has Roger?
3. One born to blood and honor
5. Who would Brianna like to kill?
6. Ye dinna want to step between two o’ these wi’ their dander up

ANAGRAMS

For the anagrams, unscramble the letters in each phrase or group of words to find a character whose name appears in this section. As with the example, the person’s first and last names dinna always appear together, but we ken who they are if they are referred to by their first name or their last. All answers are 2 words - first and last names. 1 point for each correct answer (first and last name), 6 points max.

Example: Rear scar - life!
CLAIRE FRASER

Claire is referred to as Claire, Mrs. Claire, and Mrs. Fraser in this section, but we ken she is Claire Fraser.

Acorn in line, sir
A deer wig for elk
Raise a fern germ
Skinny lye den
A deck. A mule. No zig.
I nudge in lace.

QUOTAGRAMS - 5 points each

To solve the quotagrams, solve the clues and enter the letters into the corresponding spaces above. The clues for quote 1 and quote 2 have different codes. Some of the numbers are repeated in the same quote. If the numbers 01 - 09 appear in the clues, they are in the spots 101 - 109. There was a bit of a space crunch. To enlarge the quotagram, click on the grid and it will grow.

You may be able to solve the quotagram without solving all of the clues. I just need you to send in the quote, not the clues.

quotagram #1 (5 points)

Solve the clues and insert the corresponding letter in the space above.

This is how we like our eggs or cream, not our ale: ( 87 - 42 - 32 -63 - 27 - 109 ) 6 letters
Where did all the bears go? ( 114 -86 - 103 - 24 -42 60 -64 -125- 58 - 34 ) 10 letters
This challenge, it's the wind. First MacKenzie challenge - it was the medicine.( 23 - 126 - 96 - 15 -73 - 29 )6 letters
What do food, shelter, felling axe and clothing have in common? (84 - 5 -31 - 22 - 4- 62 - 25 - 113 - 92 ) 9 letters
Another word for Duine Uasal ( 61 - 100 - 26 - 52 - 33 - 130 - 110 - 102 - 40 ) 9 letters
An evil female snake occupied this cave: ( 116 - 78 - 7 - 21 - 37 - 12 - 83 - 67 )8 letters
Water of life ( 45 - 38 - 20 - 14 - 77 - 115 ) 6 letters
Either punishment or person, Jamie wishes to avoid this: ( 76 - 120 - 101 - 50 - 97 - 124 - 16 - 33) 8 letters
Tomorrow is a new year, but this is today. ( 114 - 106 - 41 - 121 - 131 - 6 - 12 - 81 ) 8 letters
The point of this cryptogram ( 16 - 119 - 39 - 54 - 51 - 94 - 89 - 30 - 53 - 42 - 93 )11 letters
Forever in Jamie's heart ( 1 - 8 - 123 - 105 - 47 - 35 - 70 - 118 ) 8 letters
A small flute ( 122 - 10 - 107 - 5 ) 4 letters
Counterclockwise ( 85 - 56 - 68 - 18 - 67 - 101 - 128 - 9 - 46 - 91 - 108 )11 letters
This won't make me a dandy, but I wilna look a beggar. ( 124 - 59 - 66 - 74 - 95 - 48 ) 6 letters
How Jamie kept his horse from leaving ( 9 - 82 - 23 - 57 - 33 - 88 - 132 ) 7 letters
A weapon or food? You decide. ( 98 - 69 - 3 - 72 ) 4 letters
Duncan was asked to handle this. ( 47 - 104 - 22 - 28 - 71 - 100 - 36 - 75 - 17 - 113 ) 10 letters
Some consider this a clan. Is it? (65 - 88 - 49 - 53 - 11 - 72 - 2 - 80 - 111) 9 letters
It may be, it will happen: ( 12 - 90 - 43 - 12 - 55 - 88 - 13 - 117 - 67 ) 9 letters
What Claire thought of their prospects: ( 44 - 99 - 19 - 79 ) 4 letters

The clues:

American Fireside poet 1 - (129-34-19-06-44-1-12 / 17-135-110-137-47-26 / 56-61-57- 138-132-64)
American Fireside poet 2 - (45-20-121-28-16-118 / 4-51-43-87-70-19-06 / 65-79-20-35-77-53)
Amer Fireside poet 3- (21-29-46-80-2 / 4-18-88-99-85-112-15-13-93 / 20-82-71-91-78-54-37-06-124-85)
My ride was written about by #3 above - (49-94-60-19 / 30-3-62-22-131-47)
What Bree called the small cave - (12-23-128-04-50-26-72-133-58 / 4-32-125-55)
Educational qualification - ( 56-18-17-126-1-37-38-83-24-5-94-136-51)
Nacognoweto for one - (75-60-115-17-39-05-63-117-97)
This puts us in the phylum chordata - (120-07-126-00-76-40-26-11)
To test somthing, to try a new thing - (66-48-41-81-31-36-62-01-71-08)
A term for endearment for one or derision for others - (52-98-114-9-10-122-1-17-69)
Wandering aimlessly - (35-95-18-43-02-116-67-25-26-73)
A body of people composed of one or more nationalities, with its own territory and government ( 17-14-130-12-59-26-85-113-1-7-68-74)
Also known as the Seven Years War - (123-15-86-43-17-03 /27-90-111 /8-26-127-92-34- 96) War
Easily irritated - (42-84-38-33-17-89-134-6-09)

*Note: Each of the American Fireside poets use three full names in the clue.

Fraser Challenge II Results!

2010-07-29T12:39:00.001-04:00

Ye did a braw job, lasses! 32 of a possible 45 participants! Here are the answers:

Game 1 : PASIONEMT
We were quite lax & forgiving with this game, though we did draw the line at using the word "the" for the "T" entry. ;)

P places: Phillip Alonzo, plantation, Philadelphia, prison, Paris, packet boat & porch
P people: passengers, patrons, poppet, physicians, people, parents, planter, Phaedre, practitioners, & Pollyanne
A places: Artemis, alter Aunt Jocasta's, apothecary shop, atmosphere, & anyplace
A people: apothecary, auntie/aunt, Andrew MacNeill, & Alexander
S places: shed, Scotland, stones, street, straw (where the clothes were put), south, ship, stable, sky, & Siam (as in "the King of")
S people: Smoots (Jr. or Mrs.), shipmates, someone else, Seargent Murchison, Stuart, slave, seaman, son Sassenach, & Stephen Bonnet
I places: into f@#%ing no where (LOL), Indes, Inverness, inn, Isles, & inglenook
I people: immigrants, Ian & idiot
O places: on a cargo ship, on the river (see how far we stretched it! "on" lol), Oxford, outside & ocean
O people: only person I love, officer (court, or "of the crown"), object of desire (clever!!), orphan, & (one of our favorites of the entire game:) Oreilles en feuille de chou -- loosely translated to mean "cauliflower ears"
N places: North Carolina, north, & New Bern
N people: Nayawenne, newlywed, nephew, & noble
E places: Edenton, Edmonton, east, & Edinburgh
E people: Erinyes, Englishman, Ellen, erstwhile shipmates & Elizabeth
M places: main depot, muddy bank, marketplace, Main St., mountains, museums, Montego Bay, & mill
M people: Andrew MacNeill, mama/mother, Minister, Marsali, Miss/Mistress, malevolent spirits, maid/maidservent, men/man, Mrs. Smoot, Roger/Jocasta/Dougal Mackenzie, Mr. Happy (LOL), Miss/Mr. Viorst, medusa, malcolm, & "my blessing" (awwww!)
T places: tavern, taproom, tropics & town
T people: Temeraine, Tryon, them, and tall, red-headed girl

Game 2: Jeopardy

Person who resembles a poisoned white mouse when ill. Who is Lizzie?
Officious person who looks like a half-roasted pig. Who is Sergeant Murchison?
Person who is Roger’s aunt, six times removed. Who is Brianna?
Meeting a gentleman who could give Lizzie the current whereabouts of Jamie and Claire was the reward for this virtuous behavior. What is doing the washing/washing the clothes?
A fair indication of male satisfaction (according to Roger). What is “behaving as though your spinal column has been removed”?
Name of the county wherein lies Fraser’s Ridge (as well as a name recognized by knitters internationally.) What is Rowan?

Game 3: cryptograms

Spoken about Brianna:
1. A great huge girl, dressed in men's breeches. Walkin' down the street, plain as you please, with her coat over her arm and her backside in view of everyone!

Spoken by Roger:
2. And where the hell else should I be, with you tearing off into f#$@ing nowhere and risking your bloody neck, and -- why the hell did you do it?!

Recited by Roger:
3. I, Roger Jeremiah, do take thee, Brianna Ellen, to be my lawful wedded wife. With my goods I thee endow, with my body I thee worship...in sickness and in health, in richness and in poverty, so long as we both shall live.

Challenge Results:

Mackenzie:
Seonag*, Ceanna, Ide*, Catriona Duncan, Kellan, Eadgyth, Aislinn, Catriona, Imogen, Mrs. Fitz*, Sophia, & Kinley*

Murray:
Mordag*, Caireann*, Tammy, Zella*, Ceana, Bea, Eileen, & Toireasa

Beauchamp:
Muirne*, Imogene, Isobel, Ealasaid, Sineag, Elspeth, Lady North Facing, Caroline, Nemetona, morven, Bree & Eilis

Additional points:
Seonag Mackenzie as early bird, and Toireasa Murray as sneaker!

Mackenzie points: 92 points + 3 (first responders) + 4 (perfect 18) + 1 (early bird) = 100 points
Murray points: 67 points + 3 (first responders) + 3 (perfect 18) + 1 (sneaker) = 74 points
Beauchamp points: 101 points + 4 (first responders) + 1 (perfect 18) = 106 points

***I will edit (hopefully this evening) with the winner from the hat drawing. :) ***

2nd Mac Challenge Results and Winner!

2010-07-29T00:35:00.000-04:00

Congrats to everyone for your amazing participation this round! My apologies for not getting this up sooner - the craziness called "life" got in the way...

First the answers:
1. raggedy ann
2. bagpipes
3. baroque pearls
4. wooden spatula
5. silk stockings
6. african parrot
7. quill pen
8. caged chickens
9. hammock

I loved all the pictures and the patterns!! Just as a reminder, you received a 1/2 point for unscrambling the item, a 1/2 point for a picture of the item, and a full point for a ravelry link to one of the items. Drum roll please...

We had a total of 28 participants, with 21 perfect scores! Names in blue were one of the first 10 respondents with perfect answers and received an additional point for their clan. Bolded names also received perfect scores and were eligible for the drawing.

Beauchamp:
Bree, Caroline, Ealaisaid, Eilis, Imogene, Isobel, Lady North Facing, Morven, Muirne, Nemetona, and Sineag

Fraser:
Airlie, Fiona, Isla, Jeannette, Jocasta Walkley, Nannag, Phaedra, and Vika

Murray:
Bea, Caireann, Ceana, Dalriada, Eileen, Mordag, Tammy, Toireasa, and Zella

DD#1 drew Fiona Fraser's name - congrats!! (Sorry no pics, camera is AWOL and probably in DD#2's toybox!)

Additional points were awarded to:
Eilis Beauchamp for being the early bird (+1)
Vika Fraser for being the sneaker (+1)
Bea Murray for including a picture of her own chicks hatching! (+1)
Fiona Fraser for being the individual winner (+5)

Totals are:
Beauchamp: 100.5 + 4 (1st responders) + 1 (early bird) = 105.5
Fraser: 61.5 + 1 (1st responders) + 1 (sneaker) + 5 (individual winner) = 68.5
Murray: 77.5 + 5 (1st responders) + 1 (cleverness!) = 83.5

Congrats, and thanks for playing! (And for all the lovely pattern links!)
~Seonag Mac

Fraser Challenge #2

2010-07-23T00:08:00.000-04:00

Welcome to this passion-filled section with our favorite daughter and her soon-to-be lover & (hand-fast) husband! We've created 3 games for you to play again, all based on section 9. Same as before, each game allows for 6 points to be earned, but you need only 10 to get a "perfect." Over-achievers (you know who you are! ;)) who answer all 18 correctly do earn an extra point, though.

Answers due by midnight on July 28. Send them to highlandergames at ymail dot com. Happy Puzzling!

Game 1

The Murray's game of Marsali...has been renamed Passionement, in honor of our section's title. Or, without all the duplicate letters:

PASIONEMT

You need only find words beginning with each letter above, (from our paltry 2 chapters - 40 & 41), with the following subjects:

Places
People

3 words for every point.

Game 2

Nannag has created another tricky Jeopardy game for you. The "answers" are below...send us the questions! 1 point for each question.

1. Person who resembles a poisoned white mouse when ill.

2. "Officious" person who looks like a half-roasted pig?

3. Person who is Roger’s aunt, six times removed.

4. Meeting a gentleman who could give Lizzie the current whereabouts of Jamie and Claire was the reward for this virtuous behavior.

5. A fair indication of male satisfaction (according to Roger).

6. Name of the county wherein lies Fraser’s Ridge (as well as a name recognized by knitters internationally.)

Game 3

The last game is a cryptogram -- dinna hate me! I've made it easy -- well loved quotes spoken... 2 points for each quote.

Quote #1 - spoken about Brianna

Z AYSZM LXAS AJYI, UYSOOSU JW GSW'O EYSSPLSO. DZIBJW' URDW MLS OMYSSM, NIZJW ZO TRX NISZOS, DJML LSY PRZM RKSY LSY ZYG ZWU LSY EZPBOJUS JW KJSD RV SKSYTRWS!

Quote #2 - spoken by Roger (please excuse the language!)

YLN CKBDB QKB KBJJ BJUB UKIWJN Z GB, CZQK FIW QBYDZLV IXX ZLQI XWAOZLV LICKBDB YLN DZUOZLV FIWD GJIINF LBAO, YLN -- CKF QKB KBJJ NZN FIW NI ZQ?!

Quote #3 - recited by Roger

F, USKWU AWUWXFQJ, HS DQNW DJWW, IUFQVVQ WGGWV, DS IW XE GQOTZG OWHHWH OFTW. OFDJ XE KSSHL F DJWW WVHSO, OFDJ XE ISHE F DJWW OSULJFY...FV LFRNVWLL QVH FV JWQGDJ, FV UFRJVWLL QVH FV YSPWUDE, LS GSVK QL OW ISDJ LJQGG GFPW.

MacKenzie Challenge, Part II

2010-07-15T23:06:00.000-04:00

The MacKenzies' second challenge is based on Section 8, and this section was all about journeys: Brianna's journey through the stones, then to Lallybroch, and then to America; Roger's journey through the stones and off to America to find Brianna. Of course, they probably made a list of things to bring with them.

Your job is to unscramble the items on their list and find a picture so they know what to look for. Scoring: 1/2 point for unscrambling the item and 1/2 point for the image. Be sure to include the image and not just the link for the image. You get a bonus point for including ONE knitting pattern link from Ravelry. (All items are found within Section 8.)

1. gdyareg nna

2. spagpbei

3. qaeurbo aplsre

4. onwdeo ulpasta

5. kils gktsscnio

6. cfnaair tproar

7. luilq epn

8. daegc hnkcseci

9. mkhmcoa

Please submit all answers to highlandergames at ymail dot com by MIDNIGHT (EST) on WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21. Be sure to include your swap name, clan name, and ravelry id, so we can properly sort the answers.

Have fun, and good luck on your journey!
~Seonag Mac and your MacKenzie Sisters

Fraser Challenge #1 Answers

2010-07-15T16:04:00.000-04:00

Jeopardy:

1. What is “blinking first”?
2. What is crepuscle?
3. Who is Nayawenne?
4. Who is Shelley?
5. Who are Jamie and Willie?
6. What is “My Weekly”? (or My Weekly’s tips for the lovelorn, or “How to Intrigue a Man”.)

Word Search:

jamie fraser
claire fraser
ian murray
jocasta cameron
dougal mackenzie
colum mackenzie
duncan innes
andrew macneill
fionn mac cumhall
john quincy myers
nacognaweto
nayawenne

**fionn mac cumhall is the one that most could not find -- he (she?) was a fairy in one of the tales they talked about in the book**

Letter Suduko:

1 NRY AOL UIM
2 UML IYR NOA
3 IAO NUM LYR

4 MOU YIN RAL
5 AIR OLU YMN
6 LYN RMA IUO

7 OLM URI ANY
8 YUA LNO MRI
9 RNI MAY OLU

**for all those who said that these sukukos were hard -- only one person who attempted it did not succeed in getting a perfect score on it!**

The Fraser Challenge Results are IN!

2010-07-15T10:40:00.001-04:00

**editing to add -- the Beauchamp's Nemetona had a sending snafu, so she's being added in -- she earned an additional 10 points for her team! Congrats, ladies!**

Lassies, ye did a braw job of it! We had a total of 28 participants, this round, and of those, TWENTY-TWO "perfect 10" scores! The break-down is as follows:
Murray:
Caireann, Mordag, Tammy, Bea, Eileen, Toireasa, & Zella

Mackenzie:
Aislinn, Catrionia Duncan, Ide, Eadgyth Mac, Isobel, Ceanna, Mrs. Fitz, Dirty Prudentilla Bonney, Imogen, Catriona, Kinley, Ronan, & Seonag
Beauchamp:
Muirne, Sineag, Imogen, Eilis, Ealaisad, Morven, Lady North Facing, Bree, & SuisanBlue text denotes first 10 responders who also had "perfect 10" scores (and thus earn their team an extra point), and bolded lasses are also "perfect 10" scores, who are entered into the drawing.

Additional points are awarded to:

Caireann Murray, for being the early bird
Zella Murray, for being the sneaker, with our best time yet: 11:59pm!! No beating that one!
Caireann Murray, Muirne Beauchamp, Seonag Makenzie & Ide Mackenzie for answering all 18 questions correctly!
Totals are:
Murray: 61 + 4 (first responders) + 1 (early bird) + 1 (sneaker) + 1 (perfect 18) = 68
Mackenzie: 115 + 4 (first responders) + 2 (perfect 18) + 5 (challenge winner) = 126
Beauchamp: 71 + 2 (first responders) + 1 (perfect 18) = 74

****edited to add the drawing information****

22 Names were put in the hat...a very special hat! Knit for me as a surprise by one of the Lallyclickets from the Ladies of Lallybroch, 5 1/2 years ago -- before I knew how to knit!! And the blinking boy in the photo who chose the winner was the one who wore it as an infant. :)

On to the drawing...And the winner is.... Ide Mackenzie!!! Congrats! You've won your clan an extra 5 points! :)

I don't know why he kept blinking like that....lol

-Submitted by Fiona Fraser

Fraser Challenge

2010-07-09T05:06:00.000-04:00

Je Suis Prest! Are you? We sure hope so!!

Your challenge is brought to you in 3 parts, and you may pick and choose which to complete to earn your 10 points. All information will be in Section 7 of the book.

Part 1: Jeopardy
each question worth 1 point - 6 points possible

The answers are below. Please submit the "question" for each.

1. The way you lose owl.

2. The mysterious half-light at dawn and dusk when some animals feed.

3. A bag ornamented with a rough green stone and the spotted tail-feathers of a woodpecker hung around this person’s neck.

4. Fiend defying poet with a calm mind.

5. Cack-handed father and son.

6. “Don’t be too aggressive” is advice from this source.

Part 2: Word Search
every word is worth 1/2 of a point - 6 points possible

There are 12 names in the word search below, but you shall have to work this without a word list. They are all found in Chapters 19 & 20 of Section 7. The last name is attached, even if it is not that way in the book (i.e. you would not just find "frank" but "frankrandall"). Two of the people do not have last names. One is actually not a character in the book, but the "person" is named (and yes, the use of quotes just there is a hint for you!). An additional help is that all words are front or backwards, up or down. No diagonals!

To submit, simply send a list of the names you find.

(click on word search to enlarge)

Part 3: Word Sudoku
6 possible points. 1 point deducted for each incomplete or incorrect row...you will not receive negative points, although there are 9 rows...

(Number) Sudoku explanation: Each Sudoku has a unique solution that can be reached logically without guessing. Enter digits from 1 to 9 into the blank spaces. Every row must contain one of each digit. So must every column, as must every 3x3 square. Here is a link that contains tutorials of how to play (look in the left-hand column).

However, today we are playing WORD Sudoku. instead of 9 different digits, there are 9 different letters. What letters? Well...you must solve this bitty clue to find out:

Clue:
a boy and his "dog..."

Answer:
_____ _____ & _____

Look at the letters from these 3 words -- after you remove all the duplicate letters, there are 9 different ones left. Use these 9 to solve the sudoku below.

To submit, send the 9 letters (in the correct order) for each ROW:

Example below (x being the letters you have yet to discover -- obviously yours will have the "real" letters in there):

row 1: xRxxOxxIx
row 2: xxLIYRNxx
(all the way through row 9, of course)

(click on puzzle to enlarge)

As always, please submit your answers to highlandergames at ymail dot com. Include "Fraser Challenge" in the subject line, and your swap name, ravelry name, and clan affiliation in the body of the email.

Deadline is July 14th at midnight, EST.
-Fiona Fraser

Beauchamp Challenge Revealed

2010-07-09T04:25:00.000-04:00

Thank ye ladies for taking time from a busy week and the excruciating heat to partake of our wee challenge. Entries were received from 25 lasses out of a total 45 possible participants (Beauchamps got to sit this one out). We hope you all enjoyed a little peek at Claire's letters home to Bree.

ANSWERS
LETTER 1: Word Search Forever
1. ADAM
2. BRIANNA
3. CLAIRE
4. DR RAWLINGS
5. DUNCAN
7. FIONA
8. FRANK RANDALL
9. IAN
10. JAMIE
11. JOCASTA
12. KING WILLIAM
13. LONGFELLOW (we didn't fool anyone; this is just one word)
14. MACBETH
15. MONSIEUR FRESELIERE
17. MR WAKEFIELD
18. MYERS
19. POLLYANNE
20. SASSENACH
21. SERGEANT MURCHINSON -- despite the spelling variations from the US and UK editions, everyone got this.

LETTER 2: Crosswords, Je t’aime
ACROSS
5. Thermodynamics
7. Myers
9. Pollyanne
10. Gralloch
11. Saorsa
12. Mavis McDowell -- or Mavis MacDowell, the alternate spelling without the word space and NO, CurlyKat, it is not Mark Wahlberg, although he is better looking!

DOWN
1. Uncle Angus
2. Mohawk
3. Veil [Like St. Paul, we also accepted hair]
4. Faith
6. MacBeth
8. Gooseberry

SCORING
8 Frasers: 4 perfect scores were received from LCBraun, MsLilly, CurlyKat, Cinnamonamon. Additional responses were received from Anne, Orions1, Guinevere, BlueMoonranch.
7 Murrays: 5 perfect scores were received from VioletDawn, Abitknottie, MeredithParker, Tonilee, ImgonnaPurl. Additional responses were received from Cabrita, JustaJenJen.
10 Mackenzies: 4 perfect scores were received from CursedGreenSwtr, Neila, AnnaEd, BlackMoonDog. Additional responses were received from Jules1960, The KnitDr, StickPixie, SixGunSally, Esuzabeth, JPillsbury.

The ladies in blue italics each receive an extra point for being among the first 10 to submit a 10-point answer. If you sent in your challenge and dinna see your name above, please let us know so we can adjust your clan's scores.

Our Earlybird Award goes to VioletDawn of Clan Murray. Her response was received at 2:27 pm (and then again at 2:52 p.m.) on Friday, July 2nd. Well done, lass --both responses qualify for earlybird! And our Sneaker Award goes to Cinnamonamon of Clan Fraser. Her response was received at 11:52 pm on Thursday, July 8th. Both ladies have earned a point for their clans.

A special Perfect Score Award goes to VioletDawn, CursedGreenSwtr, AnnaEd, and ImGonnaPurl. Each lady earns an extra point for their clan for answering all 33 questions correctly! Way to go!

Final Results will be posted this weekend, once I wake up a couple of sleepy teens who have worked a Girl Scout camp for four days in 100 degree weather.

And the Winner is . . .

All sisters with a 10 or better score . . .

Went into a project bag (sorry, no hats out here in Manchester at the Knit and Crochet Show)

And the name pulled from the bag by youngest dear niece was:

Catriona Mackenzie!

Congratulations, Cat! You have earned an additional 5 points for your clan.

The Final Score:

Fraser: 62 + 2 bonus + 1 sneaker = 65
Mackenzie: 59 + 3 bonus + 2 perfect scores + individual winner = 69
Murray: 52 + 5 bonus + 1 earlybird + 2 perfect scores = 60

CONGRATS to all our participants!

Beauchamp Challenge: Letters from Home

2010-07-02T08:50:00.000-04:00

Haroo Sisters!

A man in a black suit just made a special delivery of two very dusty letters. He said they have been sitting in his firm’s vault for more than 200 years. Of course, like our namesake, Claire, we Beauchamps were quite intrigued by the cryptic messages contained in the letters. Although the Beauchamps are quite adept at solving puzzles, it looks like we won’t have time to solve these. So, we call out to our Mackenzie, Murray, and Frazer sisters for a wee bit of help in deciphering these ancient letters.

This challenge focuses on Parts 5 and 6 of Drums of Autumn. As with all Highland Games challenges, the maximum possible points one can earn is 10. But, ye can earn them by completing a combination of the following puzzles.

Letter One: Word Search Forever
You get 1 point for every three words found, for a maximum of 7 points for this game.

August 1767

Dearest Bree-

You’ll love to know that I am doing fine. Jamie and I have started to get settled. We're in America now. It is beautiful! ~~I wish you could see it.~~ Coming from the 20th century, we forget that there so many folks have tread the same soil before us. Sorry dear, this is probably beginning to sound like a history lesson. In the short weeks since our arrival, we have met many people, some of whom remind me so much of the lovely folks back in ~~our~~ your time. I would love to list them by name here, but you remember your American history -– with my British accent, they likely think I am compiling a hit list of sorts. So I will just list them with a few identifying letters and ask that you find them in the grid.

All my love, Momma.

People we have met:
1. A __ __ M
2. B __ __ __ N __ __
3. C __ __ __ R __
4. D __ R __ __ __ __ __ __ __ (2 words)
5. __ __ N C __ __
6. __ __ __ Q U __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ (2 words)
7. __ I __ N __
8. __ R __ __ K __ __ __ __ __ __ __ (2 words)
9. __ A __
10. __ A __ __ __
11. J __ __ __ S __ __
12. __ __ __ G W __ __ __ __ __ __ (2 words)
13. __ __ __ G F __ __ __ __ __ (2 words)
14. M A __ __ __ __ __ [Corrected - Should be 7 letters]
15. __ __ __ S __ __ __ __ __ __E __ __ __ __ __ __ __ (2 words)
16. __ __ __ __ R A __ __ __ (2 words)
17. M R __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ (2 words)
18. __ Y __ __ __
19. __ __ L L __ __ __ __ __
20. __ __ __ __ __ __ __ C H
21. S __ __ __ E __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ (2 words) [Corrected - Should be 17 letters]

Click on the image to see the full Word Search for printing

Letter Two: Crosswords, Je T’aime

You get 1 point for every two words found, for a maximum of 6 points for this game.

August 1767

Dearest Daughter-

Bree, darling (oh, how I miss saying that to you). I hope you are doing fine and that you have continued to work hard at your studies. I thought to tell you a bit about our travels, about the people we've met and the things we've seen. ~~You should see~~ your Great Aunt Jocasta's place~~. It~~ is a wonder to behold. I can only hope that it has been restored just like Mount Vernon, yet to be built, will be, so that you can see it. Time is short and once again, I think it prudent to exercise some caution. I do draw attention to myself just being me. I do not need my words to add fuel to the fire. With your methodical mind (so much like your father) I thought you would enjoy a bit of a crossword. I've offered a few clues to the people and things we have seen and ask that you find them in the crossword grid. Until I can write again.

Je t'aime, Momma

ACROSS
5. This first law says nothing is lost only changed
7. A gentle giant
9. Claire's primitive "colleague"
10. What is the prayer Jamie said?
11. Freedom
12. A relative of the Planet of the Apes actor, perhaps? [2 words]
DOWN
1. This aged "Scottie" was given a renewed life [2 words]
2. No such thing as rape among them
3. Saint Paul's solution to unseemly lust
4. Nothing is lost, only changed
6. What is the postman's name?
8. Its green stage can "cramp" anyone's style

Click on the image to see the full crossword for printing

As with all the other challenges:

1 bonus point goes to each of the first 10 perfect (i.e.m 10 points) submissions
1 point each goes for the first submission (early bird) and the last before the deadline (sneaker)
5 points to the winner

We hope you enjoy the challenges. Happy Independence Day! Remember, as Claire does with these letters to Bree, home is where the heart lies.

MacKenzie Challenge - The Outcome!

2010-07-01T01:03:00.000-04:00

Lasses! I am SO proud that so many of you participated in the MacKenzie challenge - WOW!! There were 45 lasses eligible to play (Clan MacKenzie issued the challenge, so we couldna play) and out of that group, 31 rose up to the challenge we issued. 18 of those 31 earned a perfect score. BRAW JOB, LASSES!!

The answers:

1. Jocasta Cameron

2. Governor Tryon

3. Edwin Murray

4. Phillip Wylie

5. Pollyanne

6. Ulysses

7. Lieutenant Wolff

8. Andrew MacNeill

9. Billy Murchison

BONUS: TULACH ARD!! (What else could it be?!)

Beauchamp: 6 perfect scores were received from Bree, Ealasaid, Eilis, Imogene, Muirne, and Sineag. Additional responses were received from Caroline, Elspeth, Isobel, Lady North Facing, Morven, Nemetona, and Siusan.

Fraser: 7 perfect scores were received from Fiona, Isla, Jeannette, Jocasta Walkley, Nannag, Phaedra, and Vika. Additional responses were received from Airlie and Julienne.

Murray: 5 perfect scores were received from Bea, Caireann, Mordag, Tammy, and Zella. Additional responses were received from Caena, Eileen, Marsali, and Toireassa.

If you sent in your challenge and dinna see your name above, please let us know so we can adjust your clan's scores.

Our earlybird award goes to Vika of Clan Fraser. Her response was received at 3:11am on Friday, June 25th. That was quickly done, lass! And our sneaker award goes to Elspeth of Clan Beauchamp. Her response was received at 11:58pm on Wednesday, June 30.

There are two special awards going to Nemetona Beauchamp and Jeannette Fraser for noting that TULACH ARD is the battle cry of Clan MacKenzie - LOL! You have both earned an extra point for your clan!

A bonus point also goes to Mordag Murray for lighting a fire under her clan and increasing clan participation by 50% in the last hour!!!

All sisters with a perfect score

went into the hat,

and the name that was pulled by DD was...

BREE BEAUCHAMP!!!

Congratulations, Bree! You have earned an additional 5 points for your clan!

The Score:

Beauchamp: 93 + 4 bonus + 1 sneaker + individual winner = 103
Fraser: 76 + 5 bonus + 1 earlybird = 82
Murray: 61 + 4 bonus = 65

Congrats to all of our participants - on to the next!

Respectfully submitted,

Seonag MacKenzie

ETA: changed scoring to reflect bonus points for first perfect 10 scores. Beauchamp received an additional 3 bonus points; Fraser received an additional 4 bonus points; and Murray received an additional 3 bonus points. The overall scores have been adjusted accordingly.

Apologies!!

~Seonag

And the Winner is...

2010-06-25T16:54:00.000-04:00

Our Lady of the Blog is off, so I'm left to draw the lucky winner of the Murray challenge! Well, my sweet boy, actually... ;)

Lots of names this week:
All in the hat knit for him by his midwives 3 years ago:

Choosing carefully:

And here you go!

For those who canna read upside down, or turn their monitors on end easily, that is Caroline of Clan Beauchamp! Congrats, lassie!!

-Fiona Fraser

MacKenzie Challenge - Sections 4 & 5

2010-06-25T00:00:00.000-04:00

Dear clan sisters, the MacKenzie clan brings you a list of characters that we first meet in sections four and five. Your duty is to use the Ottendorf Cipher to tell us who we meet.

An Ottendorf Cipher gives you the location of the letter in a particular document. For this game, we will give you the chapter number, paragraph number, word number, and letter number. For example, Stacey Hood would be:

10-4-7-1
10-8-5-3
10-20-24-3
10-47-31-4
10-74-3-4
10-106-34-10

10-136-8-2
10-155-35-2
10-200-7-3
10-227-23-4

You get 1 point for each correct character answer and a bonus point for the final phrase, which will pull the clues from each character.

Please email your answers to highlandergames at ymail dot com by MIDNIGHT EST on WEDNESDAY, June 30. Good luck and have fun!

eta: 2 numbers below are bolded to show that they were mistakes that have been corrected. thanks for catchin' it, lassies!

1.
10-2-1-1
10-4-20-2
10-6-3-1
10-9-12-4
10-11-25-2
10-14-7-7
10-15-38-7

10-17-32-4
10-19-10-8
10-21-10-5
10-22-16-7
10-26-18-8
10-28-32-10
10-30-16-3

2.
10-32-40-3
10-33-2-2
10-35-24-3
10-38-26-5
10-41-1-3
10-44-36-6
10-46-29-2
10-50-2-2

10-54-23-4
10-56-28-3
10-60-5-9
10-61-21-3
10-63-36-7

3.
10-65-31-2
10-67-6-1
10-69-65-2
10-72-1-4
10-74-15-5

10-80-1-5
10-83-36-7
10-88-17-6
10-91-11-6
10-99-9-4
10-103-1-2

4.
11-3-26-2
11-5-58-1
11-23-19-4
11-29-3-2
11-29-3-3
11-36-28-6
11-43-6-4

11-55-21-2
11-75-2-5
11-79-24-6
11-85-11-1
11-92-5-2

5.
14-5-17-4
14-27-4-2
14-34-7-3
14-46-22-4
14-68-16-7
14-106-17-2
14-113-12-6
14-123-38-2
14-133-20-4

6.
12-64-47-5
12-66-23-7
12-70-9-6
12-85-9-3
12-87-13-4
12-94-5-2
12-99-18-6

7.
13-1-14-2
13-17-14-5
13-34-35-3
13-72-10-4
13-91-6-5
13-122-18-6
13-131-15-6
13-147-18-2
13-162-10-3
13-182-32-4

13-200-2-1
13-213-17-2
13-225-8-4
13-245-4-3
13-245-4-4

8.
14-2-8-4
14-6-23-9
14-9-17-4
14-22-6-4
14-28-25-4
14-34-20-3

14-38-18-1
14-45-2-6
14-48-22-6
14-51-5-4
14-66-29-6
14-72-30-3
14-90-26-4
14-137-16-5

9.
15-1-31-1
15-14-41-2
15-27-3-3
15-36-16-4
15-54-34-7

15-65-8-5
15-80-5-12
15-94-25-5
15-102-2-3
15-114-23-2
15-119-2-5
15-153-36-4
15-174-24-2
15-198-19-5

BONUS
13-91-6-5
15-80-5-12
12-66-23-7
10-19-10-8
14-48-22-6
11-5-58-1

14-106-17-2
10-50-2-2
10-67-6-1

2010-06-24T19:38:00.000-04:00

Lasses ~ I was so happy to see how much everyone enjoyed the challenges this week! I fear the sweet wee Fraser laddies will have a tough time picking from so many names.

There were 45 lasses eligible to play, (Clan Murray issued the challenge so we couldna play) and out of that group, 25 of you rose up to the challenge we issued. 21 of those 25 earned enough points for a perfect score. Braw job, lasses!

The answers:

CRYPTOGRAMS
Most of you did not try the cryptograms, so I will give you those first.
1) You’ll have a turn at the pole yourself before long ~ and I expect ye’ll have us in Cross Creek before nightfall, aye? This was Jamie speaking to Ian.

2) God kens best what will happen to the lad; if he's not shot or knocked on the head in some tavern, he'll likely come home wi' an ostrich he's won at faro next. Jamie to Claire pondering what they will do with wee Ian.

3) After what we've done for ye, ye'll rob and spoil us, lay violent hands upon my aunt and my dog, and then ye'll ha' the gall to speak of repayment? Ian to Bonnet after they were robbed. (I wonder how Claire likes being lumped in with Rollo. At least she was mentioned first.)

BALDERDASH
This is one of my favorite party games! We are given a word(phrase) and we write down the word(phrase) that is the closest to it.
Alagruous ~ woebegone
Basia Mille ~ 1000 Kisses
Caisteal Dhuni ~ A Mhor-fhaiche (both battle cries of Clan Fraser. Most of you picked Clan Motto and told me it wasn't a motto, but a battle cry.
Duine Uasal ~ gentleman (a man of worth)
Munro bagging ~ mountain climbing (climbing specific mountians ~ over 3,000 feet)
Sedulous ~ Diligent

And finally, MARSALI or Bust
FOOD/BEVERAGES
M~ Mulberry Leaves, Milk, Moist crumbs, mushrooms, Mashed tobacco residue, Mutton, Meat
A~ Apples, Aspic, Amber nectar
R~ Rings, Ragout, roots, roasted peanuts, Roe
S~ Salt, Scotch, Shortbread, Salt beef, Soda, Sardines, Soused hog's face, Spiced crabs
L~ Lard, Lobster, lagavulin, Lemon
I~ Insects, Ian (threatened to be turned into fishbait), Italian, Invertebrate (octopus on a stick), Ichthys, (Greek for fish - Jamie loved his Greek) In aspic, Ices
OBSTACLES
M~ Memories, misgivings, Mud, Money, water Moccasins, Seatbelt (when you want to kiss your lass), Mad March to glory, Mosquitoes, Miles of wilderness, Midges
A~ Alligator, Joe Abernathy (tried to keep Roger from hurting Bree),Alarm clock, Appearance, Atlantic, Aloysius (as an obstacle to the name Germaine, if Marsali had her way!), awkwardness, broken Axles,
R~ Revolver, rumpled bedclothes (in Bree's way as she is talking to Roger on the phone), Roads (washed away by storms), Rings, Rascals, Rising, River, Rubies, RCA (as in the tv that almost didn't work), Rope, Regulators, Religion, Rollo, Roberts the robber
S~ Sturgeon, Stephen Bonnet (enough said), Saplings, Sapphire, beard Stubble, Swamp, Secrets, Sailors, stray children and luggage carts, Sale of stones, surgery w/o anesthesia, Stuart Rising
L~ Latin conjunction, Laoghaire (keeping Jamie out of Scotland), Loss, Love, Line of Cars, Loyalty oath, Lawlessness, living as a farmer with a hook arm -Fergus, Lack of Laborers, Lake
I~ Ian (his presence is an obstacle to privacy), Inuinal hernia, Interruptions, Ian's thick head (an obstacle for Jamie - or thick heid), Indians
PEOPLE
M~ John Quincy Myers, Marsali, Mary,Mackay, Mama (Claire), Mary Oliphant,
A~ Ambrose MacKenzie, Auntie (Claire or Jocasta), Abernathy, Neil Armstrong,
R~ Roger Mac, Reverend Wakefield, Dr. Daniel Rawlings, Red Jacob,
S~ Charles Stuart, Sister Marie Romaine, Sassenach, Sonnini Stanhope,
L~ John Lennon, Lenny Abernathy, Lindsay, Laoghaire, Bill Livingston
I~ Ian, Duncan Innes,
PLACES
M~ Moon, Munro, mountains, Massachusetts, Montrose, Mission Control
A~ Airport, Apartment, Atlantic, America, Aberfeldy, Apothecary, Amherst
R~ River Run, River,
S~ Scotland, Sailors Rest, Sherrifmuir, South Carolina, shipping dock
L~ Lillington's stables, Lallybroch, Loche Linnhe, Loch Lomond, London, Lunar surface, Leoch
I~ Inverness, Indies
TRANSPORTATION
M~ Morbid sore throat (transpoted Old Hector to his rest), Mustang, Mule
A~ Automobiles, Apollo 11, Airport (transportaion hub), Ambulance, Airplane, airline seat
R~ Rocket Ships, River boat, roads, Raft, Running
S~ Ships, Sally Ann, Sea, Scull, Stone Circle, Spaceship, Skin
L~ Ladder, Light (calling of clans), Learning (and influence - my mother would love this one!), Legs, Lunar Lander, Leapt
I~ Inhuman embrace of reptile transporting one to position of rank and riches, In Claire's pocket (acupuncture needles), Illness, Inutero (Germaine), Incoming tide, Ingenuity

There were 10 of you that submitted perfect responses early enough to get that extra point: Eilis (also our Early Bird getting her answer in first at 10:14 am on 6/18) and Muirne of clan Beauchamp, Nannag and Bourgogne of Clan Fraser, Seonag, Eadgyth, Ceanna, Ide, Catrionia Duncan and Catriona all of Clan MacKenzie (Yes, 6 bonnie lasses from Clan MacKenzie!)

The other names in the 'hat' for perfect scores are: Caroline, Elspeth, Isobel, Morven and Ealasaid of Clan Beauchamp, Fiona, Jocasta Walkley, Vika and Jeannette of Clan Fraser and Mrs Fitz and Kinley of Clan MacKenzie.

Our Sneaker award goes to Kinley of Clan MacKenzie, who submitted her answers 8 minutes before the bell of midnight.

There is a special award going to Catriona Duncan, and it is a dubious honor to be sure. She gets the Balderdash Award, which might be the equivalent Most likely to become next Games Chieftess; She is the only one who answered all of the Balderdash questions correctly, or more importantly, the only one who knew that A Mhor-fhaiche is also the Fraser clan battle cry. Mayhap she's heard it a time or two. You have earned an extra point for your slyness!

The Score:
Beauchamp:103 + 2 bonus + 1 Earlybird = 106
Fraser: 75 + 2 bonus = 77
MacKenzie: 88 + 7 bonus + 1 sneaker = 96

Respectfully submitted,

Mordag Murray

And the Winner Is...

2010-06-18T00:34:00.000-04:00

THE LAKERS!!! :)

But seriously, here are all the names that went into the black suede cap.

And here's Rebekah attempting to draw a name.

Incidentally, she drew 10 names and threw them into the kitchen sink! So Rachael very kindly offered to redraw, with the assistance of DH.

And she drew...

MUIRNE BEAUCHAMP!!!!

Congrats, lassie - well done! :) Onto the next challenge...

~Seonag

Murray Challenge - Sections 2 and 3

2010-06-18T00:20:00.000-04:00

This next challenge is brought to you, courtesy of our Murray Sisters. Answers are due by midnight EST on June 23, 2010. Please email your answers to highlandergames at ymail dot com and have Murray in the subject line. Please include your swap name, your clan name and your rav name. Have fun!

~Seonag

Murrray Challenge - Sections 2 and 3

2010-06-17T13:00:00.000-04:00

Chieftess Challenge ~ the score:

Lasses, ye did a braw job with our first challenge showing your chieftesses just what stuff you are made of. We had 31 out of a possible 56 participate, with 19 perfect scores. Ye've done yer chieftesses proud and I thank ye for playing!

Breakdown:

Beauchamp ~ 6 perfect scores were received from: *Muirne, *Nemetona, *Sineag, Morven, Isobel, and lspeth. Additional responses were received from Lady North Facing, Suisan, Carolin, Imogene, and Ealasaid.

Fraser ~ 4 perfect scores were received from *Vika, *Phaedra, Jocasta Walkley, and Nannag, and additional challenges were received from Jeannette and Bourgogne.

MacKenzie ~ 4 perfect scores were received from Ceanna, Ide, *Catrionia Duncan, and Catriona Mac, and additional challenges were returned from Eadgyth, Mrs. Fitz, Imogen, and Ronan

Murray ~ 5 perfect scores were submitted by: *Caireann, *Tammy, *Bea, *Zella, and Latharna, and an additional challenge was received by Arafel.

If ye sent in your wee challange and dinna see your name above, please let us know so we can adjust your clan's scores.

Kudos to the lasses with the speedy perfect scores. Their names (above) are marked with a star (*). Our Early Bird goes to Caireann of Clan Murray. Her quiz was received by 7:38 pm on June 12th. Verra nice, lass! And our sneaker award goes to: Bourgogne of Clan Fraser. Her answers were received at 11:28 pm on the 16th.

The scoring is as follows:

Beauchamp: 91 for challenge + 3 bonus = 94
Fraser: 52 for challenge + 2 bonus + 1 sneaker = 55
MacKenzie: 53 for challenge + 4 bonus + 57
Murray: 59 for challenge + 5 bonus + 1 early bird = 65

The individual winner will earn 5 points for her team. We have 19 names to put in the drawing for a random selection.

Thanks for playing along. We hope you enjoyed this round.

Respectfully submitted,

Mordag Elsbeth Murray

Drums of Autumn, Teaser #1 from your Chieftesses

2010-06-12T11:51:00.000-04:00

Sharpen ye pencils & break out your books, lasses! Click through below to see the teaser our lady of the games has prepared for you! The answers are due at midnight EST on June 16th!

ETA: the correct email addy for the games is: highlandergames at ymail dot com sorry about that!!

additional eta: on the last puzzle there is a missing comma. So, in the column with "AEHINOSST" there is a period AND a comma. Sorry about the confusion!

-fiona
Drums of Autumn Challenge 1

The Final Voyager Challenge: Results

2009-12-07T18:35:00.000-05:00

Good Sisters,

The Games have come to a close with this last challenge and the results are in. We had 17 of you participate, with three perfect scores. Braw job, lasses! You have shown, by using your wit, skill and charm that you have what it takes to be a Highlander Lass in the 1700's.

The three perfect scores were from Brianna Beauchamp, Ceitidh Murray and Nemetona Beauchamp. You do your clans proud, lasses.

And the Winner is: Ceitidh (Shaydy)

The lasses participating were:

Lady NorthFacing, Nemetona, Ealasaid, Morven, Muirne, Siusan, Imogene and Brianna from the Beauchamps
Nannag and Molly from from the Frasers
Ide, Seonag and Ceili from the MacKenzies
Ceitidh, Joan, Marsali and Zella from the Murrays.

If you sent something in and dinna see your name, please let us know so we can figure out what happened.

Special Awards and Accolades:

Early Bird goes to Ceitidh of Clan Murray

Sneaker goes to Zella of Clan Murray (11:54 pm on 12/2)

Nannag and Nemetona get special accolades for their cache of weaponry: Nannag uses an Ink bottle and a List of words, while Nemetona used Cold, Lips, Anvil and Irons. I believe Nannag would be our school teacher. Nemetona could be our Special Task Force Interrogator?

Reading over the "Category" responses was the most entertaining of all of the challenges we have seen.

Clan Results:

Beauchamp: 42

Fraser: 7

MacKenzie: 8

Murray: 24 + 1 + 1 = 26 (Early Bird and Sneaker)

Clan Standings:

Beauchamp: 490

Fraser: 205

MacKenzie: 205

Murray: 338

We would like to thank all of the lasses who participated in the challenges. The challenges keep us coming back to the swap and We think they keep us more involved and help us know each other a bit better.

Respectfully submitted,

Mordag Murray, Kellan MacKenzie, Fiona Fraser, and Eilis Beauchamp

Final Voyager Challenge: Results are in!

2009-12-07T16:39:00.001-05:00

Lasses,

The final Chieftess' challenge is done and the results are in. We had 17 lasses participate ~ Clan Beauchamp: Brianna, Ealasaid, Imogen, Lady North Facing, Moren, Muirne, Nemetona and Siusan. From Fraser we had Molly and Nannag. From MacKenzie: Annaed, Ceili and Seonag and from Murray we had: Ceitidh, Joan, Marsali and Zella.

From some of the answers given, I can tell that many of you had a wee bit of fun with the first part. But...Lasses, now it is time for Imogen, Lady North Facing, Siusan, Morven, Molly, Ceili, Seonag, Marsali to thunk yourself (gently) on the forehead and say "'Oh, Claire was in this book!" So, without further ado, here are the answers to Categories:

CATEGORIES C ~ L ~ A ~ I ~ R ~ E

Boats

cask of spirits, Longboat, Artemis, Rowboat, Queen Elizabeth

People

C:Claire, Cameron, Charles Stewart, Colum, General Cope, Yi Ten Cho

L: Lawrence, Laoghaire, Laird, Lindsay brothers

A: Joe Abernathy, Alexander, Captain Allesandro

I: Ian, Duncan Innes, Midwife Innes

R: Roger, Frank Randall, (Brianna, Claire BJ), Rabbe

E: Ewan Cameran, Lord Ellesmere, Ellen, Excisemen, Edwin Murray

WEAPONS

C: Cutlass, Cannon

L: Long gun, lancet, lips

A: Arrows, anvil

I: Ink bottle, infection, irons

R: rifle

E: Edge

PLACES

C: Carryarrick, Culloden, Carfax Close, Carribean

L: Leanach Farmhouse, Lallybroch, Lake District

A: Ardsmuir, America, Abandawe, Aberdeen

I: Inverness, Windward Isles

R: Royal Mile, Rose Hall

E: Edinburgh, England, Eleuthera

BOTANY

C: Chamomile, Comfrey, citris, creeper

L: lemons, lily of the valley, lavender, lime

A: anise, aconite, angelica, milk thistle (didn't see an A...how about Asteraceae)

I: Ipecac, ivy

R: rosehips, rosemary, rose, raspberry vines

E: elecampane, elettaria cardamomum,

Sudukos:

First one (corrected one posted on Rav board)
S P T G M F D J C
C M F T J D S G P
G D J P S C T F M
D S C J T P F M G
T J M C F G P S D
F G P S D M C T J
M F G D P S J C T
P T S M C J G D F
J C D F G T M P S

Second One
T M F J G D C P S
D P J S T C G F M
G C S F P M T J D
S J G D F P M C T
M D C T S J F G P
F T P M C G D S J
J F M G D S P T C
P G D C J T S M F
C S T P M F J D G

Third one
G P D M C S J T F
C F M T J G P D S
S J T P D F G M C
J C G S M T F P D
M T S D F P C J G
F D P J G C M S T
D G J F S M T C P
T S F C P J D G M
P M C G T D S F J

QUOTEFALLS:

Ye know, I seldom wanted to go home to Laoghaire and yet at least when I did I'd find her where I'd left her.
By the smell of it, he's put at least a full bottle o'the sherry in it. A verra intemperate race the Irish.
Aye, ye can come! Only do me the one wee favor Sassenach, try verra hard not to be killed or cut to pieces, aye? It's hard on a man's sensibilities.

Lasses, I hope you had as much fun doing these challenges as I had putting them together. I would like everyone's input for the next swap, whether or not you have played games in the past or will in the future. I will start a post in "Voyager Games' thread and ask what type of games you would like to see in the future. I will try to create games that the majority of you want to play, if they can be created, but I do need your input.

Respectfully submitted,

Mordag Murray

Beauchamp Voyager Challenge Answers and Results

2009-12-04T14:47:00.000-05:00

THE ANSWERS:

1. Uttered thrice, yet three times a charm
“I want him still.” At Marsali and Fergus wedding, Claire reflects that although she had not said said that to Jamie at their wedding, she had said it three times since: in two moments of choice at Craig na Dun, and once again at Lallybroch.

2. Although “given” to Claire, Jamie uses this moniker more than she does.

Sassenach, Jamie's pet nickname for Claire

3. This "bruise of a witch” caused such an “uproar” that proved much “ado” about something.

The "black and blue" ship Bruja (Spanish for witch), whose taking of Ian caused such a brouhaha (which means an uproar, an ado) that set off the hubbub that followed in this section of the book. Although we know Geilis as the white witch, it was not known in this part of the book that she was responsible the for the brouhaha that followed Ian's kidnapping.

4. Once lost never to be found, always reminds its been around
Innes' amputated arm, Murphy's leg, or Fergus' hand

5. Initially a timeless “hand-fast,” these misty two can be traced to the heart of the story

The letters J and C, first carved by Jamie and Claire into each other's hands before Claire crosses over time back to the 20th century, as a permanent reminder of their marriage contract. It is these initials that are traced by Claire on a misty window pane before they depart on the Artemis. Also accepted, Jamie and Claire as the pair represented by the intials who as we know, are the heart of this story.

6. Good intentions paved the way to this Hell for our dynamic duo

Celibacy! Jamie's good intentions to give Marsali a chance to think over her marrying Fergus lead to the "hell" of celibacy and longing for Jamie and Claire (and also Marsali and Fergus!)

7. This joy, much admired in its expression, was almost lost in its possession

Mr. Willoughby's love of Women, that "Second Wife saw and loved in my words. Yet in desiring to possess me--and my poems--she would have forever destroyed what she admired." Thanks to Nannag for the quote.

8. Remembered with much “porpoise,” and none too lightly to be foresworn

The Hippocratic Oath, recited by Claire from memory when trying to explain to Jamie why he had to let her go aboard the Porpoise to aid those stricken with typhoid fever. Also accepted: Clarence Marylebone, Duke of Sandringham was in possession of many 'porpoise' coins. Meyer was foresworn from revealing the owner, but because the original owner was dead for 20 years, no longer felt the obligation of keeping the secret (thanks to Mordag because I didn't even make this connection)

9. In for a penny, in for a “pound,” his future cut short when his time came 'round.

Young Elias Pound, who is one of the last victims of typhoid fever aboard the HMS Porpoise

10. Ask not for whom the bell tolls, for it tolls for these.

The bells of the drowned churches of Port Royal toll for the 'damned [sodomitic] pirates.' Also accepted, the tolling of the bells to signify when things must be done, as when Captain Leonard hears the "ting of the ship's bell" and it reminded him it was time to take the ship's position. .

11. Picture represents Claire's bribe to Murphy of various herbs: cardamom, nutmeg, extract of anise, ginger root, vanilla beans from Ceylon

12. Picture represents the parritch prescribed to Duncan Innes as a cure for blocked lower sigmoid colon. Also accepted, the parritch eaten by Jamie but missed by Jamie's Scottish men on the Artemis

13. Picture represents Claire's motherly advice to Bree, which was too "stand up straight and don't get fat." Also accepted, Mother Hildegarde, who, even at 83, still has beautiful posture.

THE RESULTS

We Beauchamps hope you enjoyed the challenge. There were 15 souls who answered the call, two of whom had perfect scores. The Lasses who answered the Beauchamp challenge were:

Fraser: Nannag, Lileas, Molly, and Camille

MacKenzie: Ide, Ceili,Catriona, Kinley, Aislinn, and Mrs Fitz

Murray: Mordag, Mary, Morrigan, Mona, and Zella

If ye sent something in and dinna see yer name, please let me know.

Perfect scores were received from: Nannag Fraser and Mordag Murray. Ye do yer clans proud!

[Kellan's camera is absent without leave, thus no pictures, but the bairns did draw one lucky name out of the hand knit felted cloche.]

And the winner is: Mordag Murray

Special Awards go to:

Mordag of Clan Murray is our Early Bird (1 point)
Kinley of Clan Mackenzie is our Sneaker (11:59 pm with one minute to spare)(1 point)
The One-for-One Award goes to Lilieas: She submitted only one answer and got it right.
The "Can you hear me now" Award goes to Nannag and Zella. Both sent in four e-mails each, just to make sure we got their submissions.
Foiler awards go to Mordag and Nannag who both kept the Beauchamps from getting 5 points this round by earning a perfect score for their clans!

The Scores:

Beauchamp ~ 0 [exempt from play]

Fraser ~ 16 points

MacKenzie ~ 27 points + 1 point (sneaker) = 28 points
Murray ~ 21 points + 1 point (early bird) + 5 points (Mordag winning) = 27 points

Current Standings:
Beauchamp: 448
Fraser: 198
Mackenzie: 197
Murray: 312

Final Challenge

2009-11-24T13:58:00.000-05:00

As we await the arrivals of our sporrans and the opportunity to ooh and aah over what everyone received, please take a gander at our final challenge in the highlander games.

Since there was a wee delay in getting this posted, we're giving you a week to complete this challenge. It needs to be completed by Midnight (EST) Dec. 2. By then we hope to be able to announce a winner and that everyone's sporrans will have been received. As always, send you answers, your swap name, rav name and clan to highlandergames@ymail.com. Please put Final Challenge in the subject line.

Like the Murray challenge, there are several charts and boxes (but not as lengthy).
The challenge can be found here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/23070253

Murray Answers and Winners!

2009-11-16T21:59:00.000-05:00

Answers:

1. It's no that easy to be his Da; best ye go and find that out now, aye?

2. To say I love you and mean it with all my heart.

3. If you aren't at death's door when I get there, you'll live to regret it!

4. I should know you from another woman, and ye havena got your name stitched upon your bosom.

5. Weel, the lady's chief desire as stated is to see ye castrated and disemboweled in the market square at Broch Mordha, and your head mounted on a stake over her gate.

6. I can tell a hawk from a handsaw when the wind sets North by Nor'west and a sweet, plump lassive from a salt-cured ham too, appearances notwithstanding.

7. I wouldna have done it - left the prison I mean - had I not still thought it maybe had something to do wi' you, Sassenach.

8. I thought ye stuck pins in ill-wish dolls when ye mean to witch someone; not in the people themselves.

9. I suppose it's best we give him his freedom while he still thinks it's ours to give.

10. I could feel the earth turn beneath me, and my own breath coming wi' the breathing of the wind. It was as though I had no skin nor bone, but only the light of the rising sun inside me.

Most of you lasses said the puzzles looked harder than they were and one brave lass dinna use her book at all.~Mordag

The Results!

I did not weight the scores this week. Beauchamps threw that Bell curve out the window! Thanks for posting.

Lasses,

We had so many of ye particpating that it will take a bit for me to get all the scores together. We Murrays hope you had fun answering our challenge. 23 of you sent in a response to our challenge, 11 of them perfect scores!

The Lasses who answered our challenge this week were:

Beauchamp: Eilis, Nemetona, Muirne, Isobel, Lady North Facing, Ealasaid, Elspeth,Brianna, Caroline, Imogene, Morven, and Suisan

Fraser: Nannag, Lileas, Fionna, Camille and Sassenach

MacKenzie: Ide, Kellan, Siobhan, Seonag, Ceili and Mrs Fitz

If ye sent something in and dinna see yer name, please let me know.

Perfect scores were received from: (Beauchamp) Eilis, Nemetona, Muirne, Isobel, Brianna, Caroline, Imogene, Morven, (Fraser) Nannag, Lileas and (MacKenzie) Ide. Ye do yer clans proud!

And the winner is .... Nannag of Clan Fraser

Special Awards go to:

Imogene of Clan Beauchamp is our Early Bird (1 point)

Fiona of Clan Fraser is our Sneaker (11:59 pm on 11/13 - your lucky day)(1 point)

Over Achiever award goes to: Caroline and Eilis of Clan Beauchamp (plaid ribbons in the Murray plaid) for completing all of the puzzles

and Ide of Clan MacKenzie gets the Foiler award. She kept the Murrays from getting 5 points this round by earning a perfect score for her clan! (another Murray plaid ribbon)

The Results:

Beauchamp ~ 98 + 1 (Early Bird) = 99 points

Fraser ~ 34 +1 (sneaker) + 5 (Nannag winning) = 35 points

MacKenzie ~ 20 points
Murray ~ 0 points.

The Standings:
Beauchamp: 448
Fraser: 182
Mackenzie: 169
Murray: 285

Special thanks go to Joan and Ceitdh for their hard work in creating the challenge this week and to Marsali for taking charge of the Clan Prize.

Respectfully submitted,

Mordag of Clan Murray

Scores after Mackenzie's Challenge

2009-11-16T20:48:00.001-05:00

Lasses, there were 31 responses sent in for the Mackenzie Challenge. Braw job!

Perfect scores:

Fraser:Camille

Murray: Shaydy, Mordag, Zella, and Marsali

Beauchamp:Lady Northfacing, Eilis, Brianna, Elspeth, Isobel

Winner of the Mackenzie Challenge -- picked by Kellan's healthy twins:

Congratulations to Shaydy. You've earned 5 extra points for the Murray Clan.

Fraser Clan Participants: Phaedra, Camille, Nannag, Sassenach, Lileas, Fiona, Cluxewe, Molly, Jocasta
Murray Clan Participants: Shaydy, Mordag, Muirne, Zella, Mona, Latharna, Morrigan, Mary, Marsali, Eileen
Beauchamp Clan Participants: Lady Northfacing, Eilis, Brianna, Elspeth, Murine, Nemetona, Suisan, Imogen, Caroline, Morven, Ealasaid, Isobel

Beauchamps pulled ahead with the number of participants. There were 12 Beauchamps, 10 Murrays and nine Frasers. It was a tight game, for sure.

The scores:

Beauchamp: 110

Fraser:74 +1 (sneaker) = 75

MacKenzie: 0 -- because they wrote the Challenge, and were unable to prevent anyone from getting a perfect score.

Murray:77 +1 (early bird) +1 (sneaker) +5 (Shaydy's winning answers)= 84

Awards and Special Notice:

Early Bird: Shaydy of Clan Murray

Sneaker award goes to: A tie: Marsali Murray and Molly Fraser and once again Marsali. Marsali sent her answers in at 11:57 p.m., Molly submitted at 11:58 p.m. and Marsali, who had previously given up on finding "immoral papist" found it and resubmitted her answers at 11:59 p.m.

Solicitor in Training: Ide Mackenzie. She lobbied to award at least one point to the Mackenzies for having their challenge end on her birthday.

Close but not quite: Murine Beauchamp who was so close with her answer: Spin silk out of my arse, which was her "favorite" response, even though it wasn't close enough.

Linguistic artist: Morven Beauchamp, who did a braw job in the challenge considering she was using a copy of Voyager in Norwegian. I am thoroughly impressed.

Clan Standings:

Beauchamp: 349

Fraser: 147
Mackenzie: 149
Murray: 285

Respectfully submitted,

Kellan Mackenzie

Mackenzie Ansers, finally

2009-11-16T19:58:00.000-05:00

It seems like a long time ago you lasses completed the Mackenzie Challenge. In the meantime life at Kellan's life got quite busy and you lasses had to take second place. I am hoping to get everything rounded up and posted this evening.

Here are the answers.

1. A small rodent who makes a nasal-digit connection.
Wee Ratten

2. A derogatory comment directed to a man with an odd fetish, at least to the Scottish ladies of the night.
Neffit qurd

3. What you call your brother-in-law when he does some dumb rabbit-like thing -- like printing seditious pamphlets.
Harebrained fool

4. A favorite exclamation combining the holy trinity and an American president
Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ

5. A term of endearment.
mo nigheann donn

6. A thoroughly Scottish expression, lacking vowels.
Mmphm

7. Bosom
Bubbies

8. An unscrupulous Catholic
Immoral papist

9. One talented as Jamie in deception can complete this task usually left to arachnids.
Spin silk out of your arse

10. God's son, his mother and stepfather.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph

Voyager in a Nutshell

2009-11-15T18:06:00.000-05:00

Our own Ceili Mackenzie wrote this lovely and, to quote Lilieas Fraser, a quite funny, bit of prose retelling the entire story of Voyager. Enjoy!

O’er Scottish Highlands, our tale be told…
A Voyage of lovers, an epic of old,
The heroine shocked, he was not dead!
In the Dunbonnet’s Cave he hid instead,
Then imprisoned to save his home and kin,
Mac Dubh found surprising kinship within.
As Ardsmuir men were scattered beyond,
For gold and for love, he was saved by Lord John…
By misadventure he fathered a boy,
And was given his freedom amid grief and joy.
To Brianna and Roger, the truth was unveiled,
And attraction between them could not be curtailed.
Claire must travel again through the stones…
She could do without baths and cars and phones.
On her daughter bestowed a teary goodbye,
She needed her man, and her man she would find.
Upon her arrival said man doth fainted,
She showed him some photos, they got reacquainted.
It is said Mr. Willoughby arrived on the scene,
Lead them both to a brothel where Jamie came clean…
Smuggling liquor is by nature risk-filled.
The print shop burns down, Ian almost is killed.
They all make their visit to Lallybroch…
Laoghaire is angry, and Jamie is shot!
Claire always the healer, comes to his aid,
But not before leaving, all stunned and dismayed.
With syringe, penicillin, and love spite it all,
Their marriage resumes, and a lawyer is called.
To the Silkies’ Isle to fish out the funds,
But Ian is captured, and now they must run!
A gather of men set sail on a ship,
A chase after pirates , the West Indes, a trip…
Fergus and daughter Marsali are wed,
Geillis gets freaky wi’ boys in her bed,
Claire taken by Porpoise, she battles typhoid,
Recognized in Jamaica, her man’s freedom is void,
In a short téte-a-téte Lord John speaks of William,
And they take Geillis down before she can kill Ian.
A shipwreck, adrift, the lovers reach unknown shore,
Where James and Claire Fraser share life evermore.

(c) 2009 Katie Kent

Beauchamp Challenge: Who or What Am I?

2009-11-15T13:09:00.000-05:00

Come 'round all ye lovely sisters. Fàilt! We Beauchamps extend a hand of welcome. During the past month, you've deciphered curses, remembered a few quotes, uncrossed a few words, and unscrambled encrypted phrases. Can we tempt ye with a riddle or two? Use the following clues to identify the “who” or the “what” is meant by each riddle. All answers are found in Part 8: On the Water, of Voyager, where we daresay Claire might have enjoyed a laugh or two at the drawing above.

The deadline is Saturday, Nov. 21, at midnight, Eastern Time. As always:

Submit your answers to highlandergames@ymail.com

Include your Ravelry Name and Swap Name

List Beauchamp Challenge in the subject line

One point for each clue, with a maximum of 10 points.

Wishing ye much luck!

~ Eilis and the Beauchamp Sisters

The Clues:

Uttered thrice, yet each time a charm
Although given to Claire, Jamie uses this moniker more than she does.
This "bruise" of a “witch” caused such an “uproar” that proved much “ado” about something.
Once lost, never to be found, yet reminds its been around
"Initially" a timeless “hand-fast,” these "misty" two can be traced to the heart of the story
Good intentions pave the way to this Hell for our dynamic duo
This joy, much admired in its expression, was almost lost in its possession
Remembered with much “Porpoise,” and none too lightly to be foresworn
In for a penny, in for a “pound,” his future cut short when his time came 'round.
Ask not for whom the bells toll, for they toll for these.

For those who want an extra credit or two, try these visual clues on for size. Answer the WHO and the WHAT:

11.

12.

13.

Murray Challenge

2009-11-07T23:14:00.000-05:00

OK, the technical challenges have been solved, I hope. Since the posting of this challenge has been delayed by almost 24 hours (well close enough for a full day for government work) we're giving you until midnight on Nov. 13 to complete this challenge. The Beauchamp challenge will be delayed one day, too. Since this challenge includes lots of charts and blogger doesn't like charts, I've posted the main instructions for the puzzle, and a link to open files (in a pdf format). If you have difficulties, contact Kellan (knitmo) at Ravelry and she'll help you out.

~Kellan

Here's the PDF document. You can also click on it here or print it from what should be embeded below.

Tis game night and the Murray Clan is inviting all of our Good-Sisters to join us at our campfire. But dinna fash yerselves. There are several games here, but you needna play them all. Some of the games are worth 2 points, some only one. The most you can get is 10 points.

We love our Jamieisms, but Herself gives many others memorable quotes. The theme of our games tonight is quotes. Let’s see if you can solve a few of these. We ask only that you earn 10 points. The Quotagrams and the Cryptograms are worth 2 points each. The Quotefalls are worth 1 point each. You get to pick the puzzles that you like best. To submit your answer, you only need to send me the quote. Please have MURRAY in the subject line of your email, and kindly let me know which lass is submitting her challenge. Your answers should be sent to highlandergames@ymail.com

To solve the quotagrams, solve each of the clues below the chart. Put the letter for each of those answers into corresponding box in the chart directly above it. Each word in the quote is separated by a solid box, so the third word on line one is 4 letters - the first two letters of the word are on line one, the last two begin line two.

Murray Challenge 1

Murray Challenge

2009-11-06T22:43:00.000-05:00

Due to some technical issues on Kellan's end, the Murray Challenge will be delayed. As soon as I figure out what went wrong and why this isn't cooperating like it should, I will get it posted for everyone. We will extend the deadline to accommodate the technology failure on my part.

Thanks for your patience.
~Kellan

Scores after Fraser Challenge

2009-11-02T16:44:00.000-05:00

Lasses, this week there were 31 responses sent in. Braw job!

Perfect scores:

Murray: Mordag, Zella, Muirne, Morrigan, Mona, Marsali, Mary, Joan

Mackenzie: Ceili, Kinley, Kellan, Ide

Beauchamp: Muirne, Caroline, Nemetona, Elspeth, Ealasaid, Eilis, Moven, Isobel

Winner of the Fraser Challenge -- picked by Kellan's healthy twins:

Congratulations to Kinley Mackenzie. You've earned 5 extra points for the Mackenizes.

Clan Standings:

Beauchamp: 239

Fraser: 72

Mackenzie: 144
Murray: 201

Murray Clan Participants: Ceitidh, Mordag, Zella, Muirne, Morrigan, Mona, Marsali, Mary, Angelique and Joan

Mackenzie Clan Participants: Catrionia, Siobhan, Ceili, Kinley, Mrs. Fitz, Isabelle, Kellan, Leigh, and Ide

Beauchamp Clan Participants: Muirne, Caroline, Brianna, Nemetona, Elspeth, Ealasaid, Eilis, Morven, Imogen, Leslie in the Springs/Lady North Facing, Isobel, Suisan

Beauchamps pulled ahead with the number of participants. There were 12 Beauchamps, 10 Murrays and 9 Mackenzies.

The scores:

Beauchamp: 113

Fraser: 0 -- because they wrote the Challenge, and were unable to prevent anyone from getting a perfect score

MacKenzie: 61 +1 (Sneaker) +5 Kinley's winning name = 67

Murray: 91 + 1 (Early Bird) = 92

Awards and Special Notice:

Early Bird goes to Ceitidh of Clan Murray

Sneaker award goes to: Leigh of Clan Mackenzie. Her email was received at 11:52 p.m. on the deadline.

Leslie in the Springs more formally known as Lady North Facing -- most wrong answers that ended up being marked right...clever lass! Marsali Murray -- who appreciates a good pair of plump, white partridges! ;)

Respectfully submitted,

Fiona Fraser

Fraser Answers

2009-11-02T16:37:00.000-05:00

Lassies, I apologize for this taking so long to get posted. We've had a bit of the sickies going around our place. While Fiona had the information to me in a timely fashion, I unfortunately did not get it posted here in a timely fashion.

There was amazing participation in the Fraser Challenge. There were 31 ladies who played this round of the games and practiced our map reading abilities.

Without further ado, here are the answers to the Fraser Challenge

Across
2. Furey Street
4. Loch Ness
7. stable
8. Spanish Main
9. British Museum

Down
1. Watendlath Tarn
3. Ellesmere
5. Helwater
6. Carribean

I am feeling well enough, I will get the winning post made tonight.
~Kellan

Mackenzie Challenge

2009-10-30T03:01:00.000-04:00

Gaelic is a language that allows the user many opportunity to show his or her creativity. Gaelic speakers then translate that creativity when speaking English. Claire frequently comments on Jamie's mastery of the languages. Here's your chance to show yours. Note: Kellan offers no apologies for the horrible puns that have been committed in the creation of this challenge.

Use the clues to identify the curse word or other colorful phrase. All answers are found in Section 6 of Voyager. The deadline is midnight Nov. 5, Eastern Time. As always submit your answers to highlandergames@ymail.com. Include your Ravelry Name, Swap name and list Mackenzie Challenge in the subject line.

Example: A near sighted rodent might exclaim this when he is surprised in one of his tunnels

___ ___ ___ ___ ___ / ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Answer: H O L E Y / M O L E Y

1. A small rodent who makes a nasal-digit connection.
___ ___ ___ / ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

2. A derogatory comment directed to a man with an odd fetish, at least to the Scottish ladies of the night.
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ / ___ ___ ___ ___

3. What you call your brother-in-law when he does some dumb rabbit-like thing -- like printing seditious pamphlets.

___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ / ___ ___ ___ ___

4. A favorite exclamation combining the holy trinity and an American president
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ / ___ . / ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ / ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

5. A term of endearment.
___ ___ / ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ / ___ ___ ___ ___

6. A thoroughly Scottish expression, lacking vowels.
___ ___ ___ ___ ___

7. Bosom
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

8. An unscrupulous Catholic
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ / ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

9. One talented as Jamie in deception can complete this task usually left to arachnids.
___ ___ ___ ___ / ___ ___ ___ ___ / ___ ___ ___ / ___ ___ / ___ ___ ___ ___ / ___ ___ ___ ___

10. God's son, his mother and stepfather.
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ / ___ ___ ___ ___ / ___ ___ ___ / ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

Best of luck,
~Kellan and the Mackenzie lassies

The Score

2009-10-25T22:15:00.000-04:00

Lasses, this week there were 36 responses sent in out of a possible 51. That is 71%. Braw job! There were no perfect scores, so we will take the ones with 1 incorrect score. We had one lass from each clan ~ Beauchamp's representative is Elsbeth, Camille from Clan Fraser, Ceili from MacKenzie and Shaydy from Murray. Ye do yer clans proud, lasses!

Clan Standings:

Beauchamp ~ 10 participants are: Lady NF, Ealasaid, Nemetona, Muirne, Isobel, Brianna, Elspeth, Imogene, Morven and Suisan

Fraser ~ 9 participants are Camille, Nannag, Morgana, Margaret Simpson, Molly, Sassenach, Phaedra, Lileas and Bourgogne.

MacKenzie ~ 7 participants are Siobhan, Kinley, Leigh, Catriona Duncan, Ceili, Ide, Isabelle

Murray ~ 10 participants are: Ceitidh, Morrigan, Latharna, Catriona Anderson, Joan, Marsali, Mary, Mona, Eileen and Zella

Beauchamp and Murray are once again tied for participation, but Fraser and MacKenzie were verra close.

The scores:

Beauchamp: 50 + 5 = 55 (Winner)

Fraser: 43

MacKenzie: 28 + 1 = 29 (Early Bird)

Murray: 40 + 1 = 41 (Sneaker)

Awards and Special Notice:

Early Bird goes to Siobhan of Clan MacKenzie.

Sneaker award goes to: Joan of Clan Murray. Her email was received at 11:57 pm on October 19th.

Elspeth of Beauchamp had her name drawn out of the hand-knit felted cloche by Kellan's lad, Ian. He stopped reading "The Best Storybook Ever" to do the deed.

Honorary mention goes to Nemetona of Clan Beauchamp as our Cross Clanswoman. She was Sly as a MacKenzie, but cute with it. She didn't send in an obvious link to correspond with her answers, but explained away, in true Scots style, a tale to link them and had me believing that was what I was asking for. For M. Voltaire, she assured me that as a special dinner guest he needed a special place mat out of fine french linen so she linked a pattern. For Devil's Cauldron I was totally convinced that 'Boil, boil, toil and trouble' coupled with 'this one is all wet' needed a recipe for soup from 'What Soup is bubbling at the Cauldron'. Boil = bubbling, toil - well, if you are making soup it is a toil, wet = soup is wet and it is in a cauldron. I wanted to mark everyone else who didn't send these links as wrong!

We have another honorary mention. Claire's Glass Face. This would be Imogen of Clan Beauchamp. She had to confess that she didn't pose her response as a question. Some people are unable to lie. (Imogen - we love Claire. You have her face...you got your point!)

Respectfully submitted,

Mordag

Fraser Challenge

2009-10-22T03:01:00.000-04:00

This is a tale that roams near and far in both space and time...therefore ye will search through hundreds of years to find the answers ye seek. They will all be places -- proper names some, but not all. The tenth question is one that will necessitate the other 9 being answered. Ye must fill in all the answers in the crossword.

EDITED TO ADD on 10.25.09:

Question 10 is the act of filling in all the answers into the crossword. Ye must send the answers to the 9 clues to the highlandergames ymail address with fraser or crossword in the subject line.

If you mis-spell anything, that would make #10 wrong, as it wouldn't work in the crossword.

The due date is October 28th. Send to highlandergames@ymail.com. Put Fraser Challenge in the subject line. Note, this should be the same address you ALWAYS send the challenge to.

Two-worded answers will have a space in the puzzle to separate the words (in fact, only 4 of the answers are ONE word!).

Sample Clue: The "road" to Jamie Answer: Craigh Na Dun Crossword: would show 13 empty spaces

Luck be with ye, sisters, we hope this quiz be much fun and little stress on ye, and ye enjoy your tromp back through the book for the answers...

~Ladies of Clan Frasers

Note: This game is for all Lassies in Beauchamp, Murray and Mackenzie clans.

Across

2. Trains, planes & automobiles...where was Claire headed?

4. Where Claire shares a memory of a ancient soul with Roger

7. Bess & Blossom roomed with Jamie in here

8. On what sea were they when those fine, white, plump partridges leapt out of their concealment?

9. Brianna's "whoop" necessitated their hasty departure from where?

Down

1. "O Lucifer, thou son of the morning" ...where were they?

3. Where, on a stormy night, one life is lost, as another is saved.

5. Drink of the damned

6. "the posterior zygapophysys had broken clean off" ...where did it happen?

Jeopardy

2009-10-21T12:30:00.000-04:00

Lasses,
Twas a difficult challenge this week but ye did well. Each question was answered correctly, more than once. I pulled all of the questions out of Chapter 10, hoping to make things a wee bit easier.

As to the part B - well, we needed to find a link in Rav, outside of Outlander, that had Voltaire, coney (or rabbit), Heloise, devil or cauldron, and Agustus. It could have been the name of a pattern, part of a forum conversation, the name of a project, the name of a company. Even a different spelling was acceptable.

For 1b, I even accepted a place mat pattern as Voltaire was a dinner guest. These answers were varied and clever, and too numerous to mention all of them.

1. Who is Monsieur Voltaire? (pg. 124 Jamie: ...I was privileged to entertain Voltaire at my table...He seldom said anything at all, let alone much sparkling with wit.)

2. What is a coney? (pg 131 LJG: what is it that caused you to leave...and seek congress with the coneys on the moor? There is a belief that if the first words out of your mouth on the 1st day of the month is Rabbit Rabbit ~ or ~ Rabbit Rabbit White Rabbit your entire month will be filled with good luck.

3. What is Nouvelle Heloise? (pg123 Helloise was the go-to person for household hints pre Martha Stewart. I believe Hints from Helloise was given to many brides at bridal showers.)

4. What is Devil’s Cauldron? (pg 115: They call this spot the Devil's Cauldron because of the way it boils all the time. pg 134: ye'll maybe have heard of a place called the Devil's Cauldron. One of these references is in chapter 9, the other in 10.)

5. Who is Agustus? (pg 125: destined for the supper of the cat Agustus. Agustus was also the first Emperor of Rome. )

Thank ye kindly fer all yer hard work this week. It has paid off.
Respectfully submitted,
Mordag Murray

Round One Scores

2009-10-18T21:51:00.000-04:00

Lasses,

I would like to thank everyone who submitted responses for the first challenge. Out of a possible 51 entries, we received 39 answers which is 76%. Ye've all done a bonny job and your chieftesses are so proud of ye!

Breakdown:

Beauchamp - 6 perfect scores: Nemetona, Ealasaid, Morven, Muirne, Isobel and Brianna. 5 additional challenges received from Lady North Facing, Elsbeth, Siusan, Haze and Caroline.

Fraser - Perfect scores received from Nannag and Camille. Entries also received from: Morgana, Jocasta, Molly, Phaedra, Sassenach and Margaret Simpson.

MacKenzie- 6 perfect scores from: Kinley, Siobhan, Ide, Seonag, Catriona Duncan and Madeleine. Three additional entries from: Leigh, Aislinn and Ceili.

Murray also sent in 11 responses: perfect scores from Ceitidh, Catriona, Joan, Marsala and Mary. Additional responses from: Mona, Eileen, Angelique, Latharna, Morrigan and Muirne.

Kellan's minions, who usually draw the name out of the hand-knit felted cloche, are sick. Therefore, I did not have them pick the winners from among those with perfect scores. I drew the name out, and the winner is Catriona Murray. Catriona earns five additional points for her clan.

Clan Standings:

Beauchamp: 70 + 1 = 71

Murray: 61 + 2 + 5= 68

MacKenzie: 47 + 1 + 48

Fraser: 29

Extra points earned for their respective clans:

Siobhan was our Early Bird. Answers received at: 1:02 pm on Wednesday (11/7)

Ealasaid earned the Bold Scot award. She remarked on Frank's nakedness..

Muirne of Clan Murray earned the Wise Woman award. She was the first to use THE SIGHT to divine one of the answers. (She didn't know the quote, but correctly divined who said it.)

Our Sneaker Award goes to Mona of Clan Murray. She submitted her answers at 11:53 PM on the last day, just 7 minutes before the deadline.

Note on how scores were tallied:

When totalling up the scores, we did something a little different. We polled everyone in the beginning, asking if they were going to participate. Taking each of the yesses from each clan and taking away the chieftesses (we were not allowed to play in this round) Beachamp, MacKenzie and Murray each had 13 eligible players. Fraser had 12. I added up the total score for the games for each clan, multiplied it by # of entries and then divided by the # of eligible players and rounded to the nearest number. Then I added in Sneaker, Early Bird, etc.

~Mordag and Kellan

Crypto Answers

2009-10-16T14:24:00.000-04:00

The Answers
1a) "Gc'ic lticd hc hg owhc, hg ytuc, edr hg bwd. Ftyy gc dw ycn hc lt' gc notb bheyy notdl td xcnqxd?"

"Ye've given me my home, my life, and my son. Will ye no let me gi' ye this small thing in return?"

1b) Who said it and to whom or about what?Said to Jamie by Mary McNab . She was offering up the comfort of her body on the eve of him offering himself up for the families at Lallybroch.

I had a typo here. lt should have been lt'c as in gi' should have been gi'e. My mistake - I accepted both gi' and gi'e as both answers were submitted.~Mordag

2a) "Di Sieabzqydi nl nqs jlis, qs klfaw tdnqst adx kdnst lfn lm nqs nlbasn nqdi wtbir nsd ydws mtly nsd jdez."

"An Englishman to the bone, he would rather lap water out of the toilet than drink tea made from teabags."

2b) Who said it and to whom or about what? Claire said that about Frank. This was a general narration part of the book. I would have accepted Claire or even DG as the who said. Just before this point in the book, Claire was telling Roger about her life when she returned. I also accepted Claire told this to Roger.

3a) "Emc, W zcvenn. Tc xzsawycd gs uwnn ac. W pwiie awip wk msr ps wg ksz twa."

"Aye, I recall. He promised to kill me. I dinna mind if you do it for him."

3b) Who said it and to whom or about whom/what? Said by Jamie to Lord Melton . Lord John Gray promised to kill Jamie if they met again.

4a) "Drf benx kvjm jmo Nbdri yttvno, yu mdqo fye hoor jyy heif abdfvrc lycihylf tyu Tvyrd?"

"Any luck with the Clan's office, or have you been too busy playing dogsbody for Fiona?"

4b) Who said it and to whom or about what?Said to Brianna by Roger about Bri running errands for Fiona.

5a) "Rgy of eaty na fattap gym pjofxqtf. Ayq aw njq uzgscqf aw Gmgr."

"Man is born to sorry and whiskers. One of the plagues of Adam."

5b) Who said it and to whom or about what?Said by Jamie to Fergus, Young Jamie and Rabbie McNab about shaving.

Lassies, the scores have been tabulated. My 3-year-olds will be drawing from the hand-knit felted cloche tonight, and I will get the results posted either tonight (Friday, Oct. 16 or sometime on Saturday, Oct. 17 -- most likely during nap time). ~Kellan

Jeopardy

2009-10-14T03:01:00.000-04:00

Lasses, ye did a braw job wi' the crypto. This is a combo of Jeopardy and Scavenger Hunt. Solve the clue and pose it in the form of a question, just like Jeopardy. Then ‘find’ in Ravelry, something which represents the answer. But ye canna find it in any of the post from the Outlander Fans Groups. 1 point will be awarded for each.
There is more than one possible answer for the B part to each of the 5 questions, but only one for the A part. The answers for this round of the games sponsored by the Chieftesses can be found in Section 3 of Voyager.

Example: Da cannibal is da friend or da foe.
Answer:
a) Who is Robinson Crusoe?
b) http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/television-knitters/407523

1a. Once a guest during better times, his words were seldom spoken.
1b. the Rav link

2a. Is today the first? Lucky you! Call to me. Call to me on the Moor, but sometimes I'm an island.
2b. rav link

3a. What’s a bride to do? Here’s a hint…it’s in the book.
3b. rav link

4a. Boil, boil, toil and trouble. This one is all wet.
4b. rav link

5a. As the ‘first’ cat, I was named after another important ‘first’.
5b. rav link.

When ye solve the challenge, send it to highlandergames@ymail.com by midnight EST Monday, Oct. 19. Please put Jeopardy in the subject line. Also include your clan name (my name is Mordag), which clan you are from (I am from Clan Murray), and your rav name (I am abitknottie) so I can give ye the proper credit. Ye'll be gettin' 1 point for solving each of the clue and 1 point for the related rav link. If you are unable to solve any of the cryptos, but drop me a note saying that, ye'll still get a participation point.

Good luck, lasses!
Mordag

Schedule of Events

2009-10-13T15:06:00.000-04:00

The Highland Games have been a bit slow to start and I blame the shiny black book most of us have recently acquired. The chieftesses have gathered the information regarding the Highland Games and which section each clan will be responsible for.

Chieftesses #1 Oct 6-11
Part 1: Battles, and the Loves of Men, chapters 1-3 (36 pp)
Part 2: Lallybroch, chapters 4-6 (34 pp)

Chieftesses #2 Oct 14-19
Part 3: When I am Thy Captive, chapters 7-13 (81 pp)

Frasers Oct 22-27
Part 4: The Lake District, chapters 14-17 (45 pp)
Part 5: You Can’t Go Home Again, chapters 18-23 (38 pp)

Mackenzies Oct 30-Nov 4
Part 6: Edinburgh, chapters 24-31 (143 pp)

Murrays Nov 6-11
Part 7: Home Again, chapters 32-39 (102 pp)

Beauchamps Nov 13-18
Part 8: On the Water, chapters 40-52 (178 pp)

Chieftesses #3 Nov 20-25
Part 9: World’s Unknown, chapters 53-63 (192 pp)

Each clan is responsible for writing the challenge and sending it to Kellan/knitmo for her to post on the blog. After the challenge is complete, the clan score the results, send answers and the results to Kellan/knitmo for the winner's name to be drawn and posted on the blog.

Best of luck Lassies, and enjoy plotting your round of the games.
~Kellan

Highland Games Round 1: Crypto

2009-10-06T11:02:00.000-04:00

Lasses, The first challenge will be a challenge of wits. Ye need to solve each of the crypto quotes, and tell us who said them and either to whom or about whom were they said. Each of the quotes has a different key to solve them, which is different from the sample.

Sample:
"ABCE, DFGD HFI JKLFD MI HGNI"

Key: A=G, B=M, D=E, E=I, F=N, G=L, H=F, I=K, L=A, M=J, O=B, R=C, S=H, T=D

Sample Solution:
part 1 - solve crypto:
"Lord, that she might be safe."
part 2 - who said it and to whom or about whom:
Jamie said it. In prayer to God, or Lord (both acceptable) or about Claire.

Here ye go, lasses:

1a) "Gc'ic lticd hc hg owhc, hg ytuc, edr hg bwd. Ftyy gc dw ycn hc lt' gc notb bheyy notdl td xcnqxd?"

1b) Who said it and to whom or about what?

2a) "Di Sieabzqydi nl nqs jlis, qs klfaw tdnqst adx kdnst lfn lm nqs nlbasn nqdi wtbir nsd ydws mtly nsd jdez."

2b) Who said it and to whom or about what?

3a) "Emc, W zcvenn. Tc xzsawycd gs uwnn ac. W pwiie awip wk msr ps wg ksz twa."

3b) Who said it and to whom or about whom/what?

4a) "Drf benx kvjm jmo Nbdri yttvno, yu mdqo fye hoor jyy heif abdfvrc lycihylf tyu Tvyrd?"

4b) Who said it and to whom or about what?

5a) "Rgy of eaty na fattap gym pjofxqtf. Ayq aw njq uzgscqf aw Gmgr."

5b) Who said it and to whom or about what?

When ye solve the challenge, send it to highlandergames@ymail.com by this Sunday at midnight EST. (10/11) Please put Crypto in the subject line. Also include your clan name (my name is Mordag), which clan you are from (I am from Clan Murray), and your rav name (I am abitknottie) so I can give ye the proper credit. Ye'll be gettin' 1 point for solving each of the cryptos and 1 point for solving the second part of each challenge as well. If you are unable to solve any of the cryptos, but drop me a note saying that, ye'll still get a participation point.

Good luck, lasses!

Mordag

Voyager Highland Games Quiz Rules

2009-10-06T09:06:00.000-04:00

All questions come from "Voyager" by Diana Gabaldon.
Each quiz is open book.
Each participant competes individually, but benefits the entire clan.
Every correct answer earns one point.
The participant with the most points wins. One winner will be selected each week.
All points participants earn are added to their clan total and used to determine the ultimate winner of the Highland Games.
One point will be awarded per person who participates in the games, and that includes an e-mail that says I don't know the answers to any of these.
In the case of a tie, the winner will be drawn at random. One name per contest will be chosen out of a hand-knit, felted cloche by one of Kellan Mackenzie's 3-year-old twins to break the tie.
Kellan Mackenzie (knitmo) will work to solve all conflicts regarding the Highland Games with the chieftess or other designated member of the clan that created the game.
Weekly winners will earn an additional five points for their clan. Those who tie with the most correct answers will earn an additional two points for their clan. They will receive a prize from the clan that developed the challenge.
Highland Game Quizzes, answers and winners will be posted at http://outlandishswap.blogspot.com/
Answers must be e-mailed to highlandergames@ymail.com
Each week you must include the key word identifying the contest (for example Crypto) in the subject line of your e-mail. You must include your Swap name (in my case Kellan) my Ravelry name (knitmo) and my clan (Mackenzie). It will make it easier to match e-mails and answers up and tally points.
Each contest begins at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday and ends 10 days later at 11:59 p.m. The first Contest begins on Tuesday, Oct. 6 and ends Sunday, Oct. 11.
One prize will be awarded to the clan that receives the most points at the end of the swap/highland games.
Games are not mandatory, but do enhance the experience and allow people to get to know each other. Participate at a level you feel comfortable.
The Highland Games will extend past the November deadline; this is to keep people interested in the swap while the last few packages arrive.

Specific Voyager Rules

Voyager is divided into seven parts. Each clan will develop a game, contest, quiz or challenge based on their assigned section of the book. It should be worth 10 points. Kellan will update with specific dates for each clan. The Chieftesses will sponsor the first two rounds of the games followed by the Frasers, Mackenzies, Murrays and Beauchamps. The final round the Chieftesses will sponsor.
Each clan is responsible for developing the contest, collecting everyone's answers from the e-mail, correcting them and sending the results to Kellan Mackenzie via Ravelry pm or e-mail [which is accessible to chieftesses] by the deadline.
Each clan must provide instructions and an example for the challenge that they develop.
This hopefully will clear up any confusion in the games and make things run more smoothly.
Each clan must provide the contest answers, and accepted answers, each participant's score, the winner (and time they submitted answers) of the early bird and sneaker. We would like to continue the tradition of including one or two other creative awards based on each individual contest, and an explanation of why it was awarded.
Challenges must be submitted to Kellan Mackenzie one day before contest is set to begin; so that she can make sure it is posted and will appear on time.
If your clan is responsible for developing the game, you will not participate. Everyone is sitting out the same amount.
The clan writing the game must provide a prize to the winner for that round.
If a clan writes a challenge so difficult that no one gets a perfect score in the other clans, they will receive five points. For example: If the Murrays write a challenge and no one from Beauchamp gets a 100 percent, then the Murrays get 5 points. The maximum number of points that can be awarded to the clan writing the challenge is 30, and that's if no one in the games gets a 100 percent.

Swap Evaluation

2009-06-18T10:49:00.000-04:00

As we finalize the Dragonfly in Amber Outlandish Swap, the chieftesses would like all swap participants to take a couple of minutes to complete this short survey. Results will be used to improve future swaps. It should take about five minutes. (Click the link to follow the survey).

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=FAlZmBpp8jDY87gv0A_2bD0A_3d_3d

Thanks for you for your participation in the Dragonfly in Amber Outlandish Swap and the survey.
Eilis, Mordag, Fiona, Kellan

P.S. I'll be posting the link to the survey in several locations, in hopes of catching everyone's attention. You only need to complete it once.

The Winners!

2009-05-03T20:48:00.000-04:00

A total of 23 of our lasses sent in their guesses. Of that there were 16 who got a perfect score. They were: Morven (BessE), Muirne (bwarnergroup) and (knittingalone), Nemetona (tandemsandy) of Clan Beauchamp; and Nannag (LCBraun) and Lileas (knitswithisis) of Clan Fraser; Ide (Annaed), Lachlan (krobin), Seonag (cursedgreenswter), Kinley (Rhenbo), Ceili (theknittingmama), Catronia Duncan (neila), and Isabelle (Emersch) of Clan Mackenzie and Morrigan (mainefan1), Marsali (mommaowie), Joan (Vivian5) and Mab (Aplourde) of Clan Murray. The chieftesses did not participate in the challenge because they were the authors.

My son drew Seonag (cursedgreenswtr) out of Clan Mackenzie out of the hand-knit felted cloche -- I found it in my freezer.

Round 7 Clan Standings:

Beauchamp: 58

Fraser: 24

Mackenzie: 97

Murray: 53

Additional awards: (for bragging rights)

Early bird: Ide of Clan MacKenzie. Her answers were received at 12:11 pm on 4/18.

Sneaker: Edme of Clan Murray. Her answers were received at 11:59 on 4/28. As usual, the Murrays are watching every ones backs to make sure nobody is left behind! Nice job, Edme!

And we are dusting off a Golden Apple Award for Seonag of Clan MacKenzie. She posted her answers with the page the person was found on, for the few doubting Thomas' who said they figured out who I was talking about, but they weren't mentioned in the section. Here are her notes and comments for some of the elusive characters (and characters they were)!

DI REC TOR ~ MC EW AN (14) page 721, but not in tandem – only as the Director or Dr. McEwan
SI MON ~ FRA SER (11) referred to on page 710, but only as Lord Lovat, the Old Fox, the old chieftain of Clan Fraser, and "you old Scotch cur"

TCHAR LACH ~ MAC ~ SEA MUS (18) referred to in English on pages 712, 713, 714, and 731, but not in the Gaidhlig (in this section), which incidentally should be spelled Tearlach (Outlandish Companion, page 241)

Not-so-soft-in-the-head award: Nemetona Beauchamp. Even though she suffered a nasty concussion, she managed to score a 100 percent on the final challenge. Hope you're feeling much better!

Perfect Participation awards: The lassies who participated in EVERY round, except for the ones where they were obligated to sit out. Eilis, Siusan, Murine, Caroline, Morven and Nemetona from Clan Beauchamp; Fiona, Nannag and Lileas of Clan Fraser; Kellan, Ceili, and Kinley of Clan Mackenzie; and Mordag Elsbeth McLean, Joan, Edme, Marsali and Morrigan of Clan Murray.

Perfect Scores Awards: The lassies who earned a perfect score during the games -- except the rounds they had to sit out. Eilis and Muirne of Clan Beauchamp and Marsali of Clan Murray.

Statistics:

23 of 52 clan members participated in the seventh round of the Highland Games, that's xx percent. This round the four chieftesses sat out since they sponsored the round.

The Mackenzie clan scored an additional point for having the highest participation in this round of the games, with 9 clan members participating. They won the round in a come-from-behind win.

Clan Beauchamp had 42 percent or 6 of 14 members participate, earning 58 points.

Clan Fraser had 13 percent or 2 of 15 members participate, earning 24 points.

Clan Mackenzie had 65 percent or 9 of 14 members participate, earning 97 points.

Clan Murray had 40 percent or 6 of 15 members participate, earning 53 points.

Final Standings
Beauchamp: 493
Fraser: 304
Mackenzie: 492
Murray: 460

~Kellan

Final Challenge Answers

2009-05-03T20:44:00.000-04:00

Lasses, as we waited for our sporrans to come in and we were admiring the lovely gifts recieved by our sisters, the chieftesses issued one final challenge. We were hoping to have all of our wee sporrans received by the final date of the challenge, but there are still a few not yet recieved. If you haven't received yours yet, please contact your chieftess, and if you haven't sent it yet, please contact both your chieftess and your spoilee.

Gillian Edgars
Balmerino
Culloden
Glengarry
Director McEwan
Simon Fraser
Carlisle
Kilmarnock
Archibald Cameron
Tcharlach Mac Seamus

~Mordag

Note: Winners will be posted soon someone at my house ran off with my jump drive, but it has been found and I will have the winner's tabulated and posted yet tonight.
~Kellan

Murray Challenge Results

2009-04-21T22:41:00.000-04:00

A total of 15 of our lasses sent in their guesses. Of that there were 4 who got a perfect score. They were: Eilis (vicjorob), Morven (BessE) and Muirne (bwarnergroup) of Clan Beauchamp; and Nannag (LCBraun)of Clan Fraser. The Murrays did not participate in the challenge because they were the authors.

The two tricky questions were #5 and #10 - either that, or you all had the Bonnie Prince on your minds! Shame on you - but he was a pretty little boy, perhaps that is why he was the 'Bonnie' prince, ye ken?

My son drew Nannag out of the Easter basket -- the hand-knit felted cloche went AWOL this week.

Round 2 Clan Standings:

Beauchamp: 63

Fraser: 33

Mackenzie: 49

Murray: 5

Additional awards: (for bragging rights)

Early bird: Eilis of Clan Beauchamp her answer arrived at 4:48 pm on 4/9, one hour and 29 minutes before the next response.

Sneaker: (it seems odd not seeing a Murray's name here): Fiona of Clan Fraser (11:30 ET on 4/17)

Most moving: Catrionia Duncan of Clan MacKenzie (recieved too late, but the most moving so I thought this photo should be posted)

Most Creative: Caroline of Beauchamp provided a map of the battlefield.

Gigglesnort: Caroline of Beauchamp: She couldn't find a picture of Johnny Cope, so she sent the song (along with the music!)

Johnny Cope (Hey Johnny Cope!)

· Hi, Johnny Cope, are ye waukin' yet
Or are your drums a-beating yet
Gie you were waukin' I would wait
Tae gang tae the coals in the morning

Cope sent a letter frae Dunbar'
Chairlie meet me an' ye dare
I'll learn ye the airts o' war
If ye'll meet me in the morning

When Chairlie looked the letter upon
He drew his sword his scabbard from
Follow me, my merry men
Meet Johnnie Cope in the morning

When Johnnie Cope he heard o' this
He thought it wouldnae be amiss
Tae hae a horse in readiness
Tae flee awa' in the morning

Fie noo Johnny, get up and rin
The Highland bagpipes mak' a din
Better tae sleep wi' a hale skin
It will be a bloody morning

When Johnny Cope tae Dunbar cam'
They speirded him, Whaur's a' your men
The de'il confound me gin I ken
I left them a' in the morning

Fie noo Johnny, ye werenae blate
Tae come wi' the news o' your ain defeat
And leave your men in sic a strait
Early in the morning

Faith, quo' Johnny, I got sic flegs
Frae their claymores and philabegs
Gin I face them again de'il brak' my legs
I'll bid ye's a' good morning

Anatomically incorrect, but still right:Ceili of MacKenzie

(I thought they dropped their kilts before they charged!)

Statistics:

15 of 46 clan members participated in the first round of the Highland Games, that's 32 percent. This round, Clan Murray sat out, since they sponsored the round.

The Mackenzie and Beauchamp clans scored an additional point for having the highest participation in this round of the games, with 6 clan members participating.

Clan Beauchamp had 40 percent or 6 of 15 members participate, earning 63 points.

Clan Fraser had 18 percent or 3 of 16 members participate, earning 33 points.

Clan Mackenzie had 40 percent or 6 of 15 members participate, earning 49 points.

Clan Murray earned five points for stumping the Mackenzie clan.

Up-to-date Standings
Beauchamp: 435
Fraser: 280
Mackenzie: 395
Murray: 407

~Kellan

Murray Challenge Answers

2009-04-21T22:18:00.000-04:00

Lasses, you have all done a great job this time around and we hope that you learned a bit about Scottish history and had fun while doing so. We had 15 people submit answers by the deadline of midnight, 4/17 Eastern Time.

The written answers are as follows:
1. Find a photo of the location of the last battle of the 1745 Rising. Culloden field or Drummossie Moor

2. Find an image of the English commanding general announcing defeat at the Battle of Gladsmuir. Gen. Johnny Cope

3. Find a portrait of the man who shows Claire the broadsheet calling her “The Stuart Witch” Arthur Elphinstone, 6^th Lord Balmerino

4. Find a photo of where Dougal MacKenzie died. Culloden House

5. If the 1745 Rising succeeded, find a portrait of the man who would have been King Charles' father would have been king: James Stuart

6. Find a portrait of the author of the book from which Claire recalls information about the Battle of Prestonpans. Charles Dickens

7. Find a photo of the place where Jamie expects to find Claire after she is turned over to the English. Callendar House

8. Find a photo of the bell tower in the town that Prince Charles Edward Stuart was blooded in his first battle. Geata , Italy

9. Find an illustration of Jamie’s grandfather at the time of his death Simon Fraser of Lovat

10. Find a portrait of the Bourbon King who lived at the Palace where Colum MacKenzie dies. Charles X, Brother of Louis (not our bonnie prince)

~Mordag

Kellan here, I'll have all the newest numbers tallied tomorrow evening, and the kidlets can draw the last name out of the felted cloche for the winner. We'll know where everyone stands heading into the final days of the last challenge.

Final Challenge

2009-04-18T03:01:00.000-04:00

Lasses, it is time for our final challenge from Dragonfly in Amber. It has been fun coming up with these puzzles to make your mind work a bit harder and perhaps a wee bit differently than it normally does. For this challenge, I wanted to do something that hadn't been used for any of the others, and you left me little choice but to do a Syl la cros tic. I have taken 10 words (or word groupings), broken them down by syllable. Your challenge: to give them back to me, in their entirety. The number in parentheses is the number of letters in each grouping. Each one is one word unless there is a ~ in there. The ~ separates the word grouping into words. They are all people with the exception of 1 which is a place, but some of the people have had their local named after them, so they might be places now. All of these words are in the last section of the book.

Good luck!
~Mordag

Example:

A AL DI DON FRA GAB JA MIE NA SER

__ __ ~ __ __ (11) (2 words, each word has 2 syllables. Total letters for both words: 11)
ANSWER: JA MIE ~ FRA SER

__ __ __ ~ __ __ __ (13) (2 words, 3 syllables each. Total letters for both words: 13)
ANSWER: DI A NA ~ GAB AL DON

See...that was easy. This might be a little tougher:

AN AN AR BAL BALD CAM CAR CHI CUL DEN DI ED ER EW FRA GAR GARS GIL GLEN I KIL LACH LE LI LIS LO MAC MAR MC MER MON MUS NO NOCK ON REC RY SEA SER SI TCHAR TOR

__ __ __ ~ __ __ (13)

__ __ __ __ (9)

__ __ __ (8)

__ __ __ (9)

__ __ __ ~ __ __ __ (14)

__ __ ~ __ __ (11)

__ __ __ (8)

__ __ __ (10)

__ __ __ ~ __ __ __ (16)

__ __ ~ __ ~ __ __ (18)

This challenge ends at midnight on April 28. Please submit your answers to highlandergames@ymail.com and please use "Final Challenge" in the subject line. As usual, please include your swap name and ravelry name to help identify everyone. This challenge is open to everyone but the chieftesses. We are sitting out this round.

I will try to get winners posted as soon as possible after this round, since this will determine who will win the Highlander Games. It's a close one this time around.
~Kellan

Mackenzie Challenge Results

2009-04-14T22:43:00.001-04:00

A total of 21 of our lasses sent in their guesses. Of that there were 12 who got a perfect score. They were: Eilis (vicjorob) and Suisan (knittingalone), Morven (BessE) and Muirne (bwarnergroup) of Clan Beauchamp; Monique (Moniquews), Nannag (LCBraun), Fiona (Cinnamonamon) and Lileas (Knitswithisis) of Clan Fraser; Mordag (abitknottie), Marsali (mommaowie), Joan (Vivian5), and Latherna (Cabrita) of Clan Murray. The Mackenzies did not participate in the challenge because they were the authors.

My lassie drew Suisan Beauchamp out of the hand-knit felted cloche

Round 2 Clan Standings:

Beauchamp: 75

Fraser: 56

Mackenzie: 0

Murray: 82

Additional awards: (for bragging rights)

Early bird: Mordag Murray submitted her answers at 10:21 Saturday, March 28

Sneaker: Morrigan Murray edged out Edme Murray for the first time in three weeks. Morrigan's answers arrived at 11:57 p.m. on April 7, a full three minutes after Edme Murray's arrived in the highlandergames inbox.

Most Dedicated: Nemetoma Beauchamp couldn't figure out where Hughey the Sheep came from and she said it "stumped me, I have never seen the name Hughey before and I couldn't get it so in the end I looked through 500 projects till he jumped out at me . . . Phew."

I hope you were inspired by some of the projects you saw during your adventures through Ravelry land.

Statistics:

21 of 47 clan members participated in the first round of the Highland Games, that's 44 percent. This round, Clan Fraser sat out, since they sponsored the round.

Clan Murray scored an additional point for having the highest participation in this round of the games, with 9 clan members participating.

Clan Beauchamp had 47 percent or 7 of 15 members participate, earning 75 points.

Clan Fraser had 31 percent or 5 of 16 members participate, earning 56 points.

Clan Murray had 56 percent or 9 of 16 members participate, earning 82 points.

Up-to-date Standings
Beauchamp: 372
Fraser: 247
Mackenzie: 346
Murray: 402

~Kellan

Mackenzie Challenge Answers

2009-04-14T22:15:00.000-04:00

Apparently ye liked this little challenge. There were quite a few people who commented on how fun it was. Glad to like it. It appears most people did well in it. Without further ado, the answers.

Across:
1. Ian Murray's Place. Protecting the weaker side But I also accepted Protecting Chief Weak Side. It fits the crossword, but doesn't help the solver in answering the jumble. It didn't seem to be a problem though.
4. The damning letter marking Himself as a traitor. Bill of Assocation or Call of Association.
6. Mistress of the house since she was 10. Jenny
7. Without Eastman Kodak, Himself has found his own way to capture Memories.
8. A dour little clansman. Murtagh

Down:
1. "Fritter away the famine with these. Potatoes
2. A leak on the door post will keep out the Ghosts.
3. Healing comes from the Healed.
5. The locals call Broch Turarach this Lallybroch.

Jumble:

As a wee lamb, his ma might have called this Scottish ovis a "colorful" nickname.

Hughey the sheep

10. Enter the Jumble answer as a Ravelry project search and answer this question:

What clan's tartan is he wearing? Murray

Background

When we were planning this little challenge we wanted everyone to end up at Ravelry to do a specific search that would result in one answer. This was the only project, item that could tie the swap, Outlander and Ravelry into one place. What's the connecting thread? I, Kellan/knitmo made Hughey the Sheep for Latherna Murray during the first swap. So, we know Latherna got that part right. Hughey doesn't really belong to Outlander, perse, but I think Jenny should have named her surly/spoiled merino buck that.

Search Tip

Some of you commented that you got a bit derailed on the search part. On right side of the main Ravelry page (the one that's headed with "Where my stitches at?" is a quick search box. The default is "pattern" but this is really a drop-down menu, and you can pick projects and enter your search term. Check it out. Try searching for one of your own projects -- you should be able to find it pretty easily.

Murray Challenge

2009-04-08T03:01:00.000-04:00

Lasses, We all ken that a picture is worth a thousand words, and Diana Gabaldon is the Mistress of words. To honor her, and all things Outlander, we’ll be working this challenge with pictures.

Your assignment: solve the quest and send me a picture or image.

Example: Find a photo of how Claire travels in time. The answer to this is the standing stones at Craig na Dun.

Acceptable responses would be:

or http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~aburnham/scot/call4.htm

So there is not question about whether or not you were successful on your quest, you should include the words to your answer – such as, standing stones outside of Inverness or standing stones at Craig na Dun. That way, if I am looking at the stones and think they are the ones at Stonehenge, I would know that you had the right answer.
~Clan Murray

1. Find a photo of the location of the last battle of the 1745 Rising.
2. Find an image of the English commanding general announcing defeat at the Battle of Gladsmuir.
3. Find a portrait of the man who shows Claire the broadsheet calling her “The Stuart Witch”
4. Find a photo of where Dougal MacKenzie died.
5. If the 1745 Rising succeeded, find a portrait of the man who would have been King
6. Find a portrait of the author of the book from which Claire recalls information about the Battle of Prestonpans.
7. Find a photo of the place where Jamie expects to find Claire after she is turned over to the English.
8. Find a photo of the bell tower in the town that Prince Charles Edward Stuart was blooded in his first battle.
9. Find an illustration of Jamie’s grandfather at the time of his death
10. Find a portrait of the Bourbon King who lived at the Palace where Colum MacKenzie dies.

Mordag (Abitknottie) submits this suggestion: If you have any general questions please post them in the games thread. Specific questions should be sent to via pm in Ravelry to Abitknottie (our Mordag) and Vivian5 (Joan Murray). As usual, submit your answers highlandergames@ymail.com.

This challenge ends at midnight on April 17. Please submit your answers to highlandergames@ymail.com and please use "Murray Challenge" in the subject line. As usual, please include your swap name and ravelry name to help identify everyone.
~Kellan

Fraser Challenge Results

2009-04-05T12:37:00.000-04:00

A total of 21 of our lasses sent in their guesses. Of that there were 10 who got a perfect score. They were: Eilis (vicjorob) and Muirne (bwarnergroup) of Clan Beauchamp; Kellan (knitmo), Kinley (Rehnbo), Fiona (caela) and Ceili (theknittingmama) of Clan Mackenzie; Mordag (abitknottie), Marsali (mommaowie), Joan (Vivian5), and Morrigan (mainefan1) of Clan Murray. The Frasers did not participate in the challenge because they were the authors.

My lassie drew Joan of Clan Murray out of the hand-knit felted cloche

Round 2 Clan Standings:

Beauchamp: 60

Fraser: 0 – since they authored the games

Mackenzie: 64

Murray: 72

Additional awards: (for bragging rights)

Early bird: Eilis Beauchamp submitted her answers at 12:16 on March 20.
Sneaker: Edme of Clan Murray squeaked in with 4 minutes to spare at 11:56 p.m. On March 28. This is the second week in a row she's claimed this title.
Best Curse: Mordag of Clan Murray: “May your cottages be covered in this freaking plant (Pellitory of the Wall) and let the person who thought up this question have the nettle juice drip on her!”

Statistics:

21 of 46 clan members participated in the first round of the Highland Games, that's 46 percent. This round, Clan Fraser sat out, since they sponsored the round.

Clans Murray scored an additional point for having the highest participation in this round of the games, and that's because Brigitte (sinkitty) participated, even though she didn't score any points. Proof participation matters!

Clan Beauchamp had 47 percent or 7 of 15 members participate, earning 60 points.

Clan Mackenzie had 40 percent or 6 of 15 members participate, earning 64 points.

Clan Murray had 50 percent or 8 of 16 members participate, earning 72 points.

Up-to-date Standings
Beauchamp: 297
Fraser: 191
Mackenzie: 346
Murray: 320

Special thanks goes to Fiona and the Frasers for writing the challenge, tallying the results and sending them to me.
~Kellan

Answers: Fraser Challenge

2009-04-05T11:53:00.000-04:00

Thank you ladies, for enjoying this quiz with us! Although we may hope that we'd stumped more of you, we're satisfied that we were, at least, quite tricky! ;)
~Fiona

1. a. What Hebrew letter is this: aelph
b. What character expounds on this? Comte St. Germaine
c. What did the character say about the occult meaning of this letter? the font of Christ's blood

2. A) “it’s kept near the fleur-de-lys stamped jar in the healer’s box; what is this herb?” Pellitory-of-the-Wall
B) this herb/plant is related to: ________ Stinging Nettle
C) answer B is used to do what in this section? make a fake pox pustule
D) what other herbs/plants are mention in conjunction with answer B? rosemary & madder
E) one of these herbs/plants produces a certain color, what is that color? madder = crimson pee pee!

*note: there were some other herb/plant answers that were correct for parts c, d & e...if you did not answer the crossword & I "graded" you on this question individually, I allowed for those other answers.

3. He learned from a famous Calvin; although he bears more resemblance to the wild man of borneo...

"He" shares an acquaintance with Claire...one who may have replaced the dispicable du Carrefours."

Who is the shared acquaintance, and What city did each of these people meet their common acquaintance in?

4. Her home in France seems to include much from a nearby country. Along with the intentional acquisitions, there is a fugitive from the same country. Name the "acquisitions" (both animate & inanimate), and the fugitive from this country.

Shared acquaintance is Master Raymond, Claire met him in Paris, the mystery "him" (who was Walter Laurent) met Raymond in Geneva.

acquisitions: cuckoo clock, Berta & Maurice (who were possibly brother & sister), and the fugitive was Reverend Walter Laurent. I also saw the monkey & a sconce mentioned as other objects from Switzerland, which I would have double checked if it had mattered with regard to the scoring...

5. Translate this:

Pater noster, qui es in caelis:
sanctificetur Nomen Tuum;
adveniat Regnum Tuum;
fiat voluntas Tua,
sicut in caelo, et in terra.
Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie;
et dimitte nobis debita nostra,
Sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris;
et ne nos inducas in tentationem;
sed libera nos a Malo

This is the Lord's Prayer.

6. a life has been lost
a life is placed at her feet
a color remains

Whose life? Faith
Whose life? Bouton
What color? Blue

*note: this question was in direct reference to the scene in the hospital just before Master Raymond visits her & heals her.

7. name the man who wrote:
"freedom and Whisky gang tegither"
and name his poem too!

name the man, name the poem: Robert Burns, "The Author's Earnest Cry and Prayer"

8. a limb that's injured
a creamy colored treatment
the beast who caused it

whose limb? Jamie
what is the treatment? Hanged Man's grease (or "salve")
what beast? horse (or the specific animal -- also accepted Fergus as the one who caused it, lol)

9. news so long delayed
hand does not match appearance
"she" is met mid way

news regarding what place? Lisbon
whose hand? Murtaugh's (it was commented that his handwriting was quite nice/neat -- "not the formless scrawl she expected")
"she" is met by whom? Jamie ("she" is the ship, which stops in Lisbon midway through the trip & Jamie goes aboard then)

10. fill in this crossword -- or simply send us the words in a list format.

Across:

2. cuckoo clock
3. lisbon
5. master raymond
8. bouton
9. jamie/horse/salve

Down:

1. lords prayer
4. stinging nettle
6. aleph
7. earnest

~Submitted by Clan Fraser

Mackenzie Challenge: I've Come Home

2009-03-28T03:01:00.000-04:00

This go-round the Mackenzies have you lassies completing a crossword puzzle, solving a jumble using the letters in the blue shaded boxes which will ultimately take you to Ravelry to conduct a search and answer one last little question.

Across:

Ian Murray's place (four words)

The damning letter marking Himself as a traitor. (three words)

Mistress of the house since she was 10.
Without Eastman Kodak, Himself has found his own way to capture ________.
A dour little clansman

Down:

“Fritter” away the famine with these.
A leak on the door post will keep out the ___________.
Healing comes from the __________.

The locals call Broch Turach this.

To make it easier to read: The across clues from the top down are numbered 1, 4, 6, 7, 8. The Down clues from the left to the right are numbered 1, 5, 2, 3. There are no spaces between the words in the multiple word answers.

For the last part of the challenge take the blue highlighted letters and rearrange the letters to solve this Jumble.

As a wee lamb, his ma might have called this Scottish ovis a "colorful" nickname.

__ __ __ __ __ __ / __ __ __ / __ __ __ __ __ (3 words)

10. Enter the Jumble answer as a Ravelry project search and answer this question:

What clan's tartan is he wearing?

This round of the Highland Games ends at midnight April 7. Submit your answers highlandergames@ymail.com. Please use Mackenzie in the subject line of the e-mail.

Edited to add another H to the puzzle. The puzzle generator absorbed some of my extra Hs when they made it. You must use the H in I've Come Home to make the puzzle complete. ~Kellan

Best of luck ladies
~Ladies of Leoch

Winners: Riddle Me This (Beauchamp Challenge

2009-03-27T18:13:00.000-04:00

italic;color:#000000;" >I have to appologize for taking so long to get this information up. The kids and I have all been sick this week, so this has been a bit of a lower priority. The point total reflects a change by the Beauchamps to allow the Italian bank and Manzetti to count as a correct answer for Question 2 ~Kellan

A total of 26 of our lasses sent in their guesses. Of that there were only two people who got a perfect score. They were: Kinley (Rehnbo) and Marsali (mommaowie).

My fever riddled daughter drew Kinley of Clan Mackenzie out of the hand-knit felted cloche.

Round 2 Clan Standings:

Beauchamp: 5

Fraser: 45

Mackenzie: 75

Murray: 54

Additional awards: (for bragging rights)

Early bird: Mordag, fearless leader of Clan Murray sent her answers in twice, and still managed to be the early bird both times! Her revised submission at 4:11 p.m. On March 7 counts as her official time.
Sneaker: Edme of Clan Murray squeaked in with 6 minutes to spare at 11:54 p.m. On March 18.
Most Amusing: A tie this time with the the mother/daugther duo from Clan Mackenzie: Fiona and Kellan.

Caela of Clan Mackenzie concluded that if she could not “find” Queen Charlotte's “house” then it must be “the house next to Sirius Black's house in London!” Because, she explained, “Charlotte has successfully hidden from me!”

Knitmo of Clan Mackenzie, who wrote Queen Charlotte's “house” was “the barn” where she's woven a shawl that says Gabaldon is “Some Author.”

Best Link to Another Book in the Series: Mrs FitzGibbons of Clan Mackenzie who answered No. 7 as “The big white sow,” writing that she knew it was not an anagram for Mama Crunch Acorns. “Wrong book, cause the she's in ABOSA. But she's the only mama that crunches acorns that I could think of!”

Going for the Gold: Sassenach of Clan Fraser, who, by answering each question with a question or question mark helped her clan's overall participation.

Statistics:

26 of 49 clan members participated in the first round of the Highland Games, that's 52 percent. This round, the four cheiftesses sat out, since they sponsored the round. (We've had a couple of clan members withdraw and the 15 ladies in Beauchamp didn't participate)

Clans Mackenzie and Murray each scored an additional point for having the highest participation in this round of the games.

Clan Beauchamp earned five points for stumping everyone in Clan Fraser – they were the only clan participating that did not have one person with a perfect score.

2 clan members got a perfect score.

Clan Beauchamp had did not participate since they were the authors of the challenge but earned 5 points for stumping one clan.

Clan Fraser had 50 percent or 8 of 16 members participate, earning 45 points.

Clan Mackenzie had 60 percent or 9 of 15 members participate, earning 75 points.

Clan Murray had 56 percent or 9 of 16 members participate, earning 54 points.

Up-to-date Standings
Beauchamp: 237
Fraser: 191
Mackenzie: 282
Murray: 248

Special thanks goes to Eilis and the Beauchamps for writing the challenge, tallying the results and sending them to me.
~Kellan

Riddle Me This Answers- REDUX

2009-03-24T11:13:00.000-04:00

Here are the answers for the Beauchamp Riddle Me This Challenge, which covered Part 3 of Dragonfly in Amber.

1) He had no wish to cast aspersions,

Nay wish to arouse suspicions,

Did he know about his wife?

Some say “not on your life” –

Cuckold simply a French tradition.

Who am I?

Answer: Jules de la Tour, husband of Princesse Louise Rohan de la Tour, mistress to Bonnie Prince Charles.

2) A prince whose funds were frighteningly low

And little or nothing to borrow

With partner extreme

A new business scheme

From “where” would the needed cash flow?

Answer: The scheme was for Prince Charles to partner with St. Germain to import port from Gostos, the Portuguese island. The limerick asks “from where” the money would flow, which includes the source of the money Charles invested with Germain -- which includes the loan from the Italian banker Manzetti.

3) A real man, full of secrets, for sure

His thoughts, his deeds, many quite impure.

His wigs kept dusted,

Nay to be trusted

Who is this “invité d’honneur?”

Answer: The “guest of honor” is Sandringham. In the chapters we were covering for this challenge, Sandringham is identified as the guest of honor at the scandalous party held after Mary Hawkins was raped. In the same paragraph it is mentioned that “Germain was also invited, to make things interesting…” Although the description of the “impure, untrustworthy” person could lead some to guess Germain, the description in French serves to emphasize the guest-of-honor part.

4) To this “biscuit” family trilogy

Our fave Scot would’na pledge fealty

One blood, many lands,

Seeking an upper hand.

Who fought to expand their realty?

Answer: Three Bourbon Cousins: King James of Scotland, King Louis of France, and King Philip of Spain (apparently Bourbon biscuits/cookies are quite tasty in the UK)

5) A Darn John, All Tan = Jonathan Randall -- need we say more?

6) Our Entire Slum = Rue Tremoulins -- anything but slumlike, this was home to Jamie and Claire while in Paris

7) Mama Crunch Acorns = Marcus MacRannoch -- a big bear of a man, is mentioned in passing

8) “Murtagh’s eye, the morning after” = rotten banana (describing the way his eye looked the night after the hullaballoo w/ Mary Hawkins).

9) Queen Charlottes “house” = Castellotti (as in Castle and Lotti, a nickname for Charlotte)

10) A bird of prey stayed here = Rue Malory (the street on where Mary or Silas “HawksInn” resided)

ETA: Based on feedback from several sisters, perhaps we Beauchamps were a bit hasty or too strict in the interpretations of our answers. For that, we are humbly apologetic.

Fraser Challenge

2009-03-19T03:01:00.000-04:00

Welcome fellow Jamie & Claire fans. We Frasers have worked long and hard on the quiz we have for ye! For ye, we have created a hodge-podge of questions, riddles, and haiku’s to solve and answer. Ye may find a need to travel outside the book on an internet searching journey to find your answers, but everything has a strong base in part 4 of our beloved Dragonfly In Amber book!

The last part is a collection of the previous nine. If ye are a clever lass you may use it to your advantage to save time with the other questions.

To reward the clever, only question 10 will be graded…of course you do not know the answers unless you answer at least part of each of the previous nine questions!

Good luck, lassies! (But not too much luck! )

1. a. What Hebrew letter is this:

b. What character expounds on this?
c. What did the character say about the occult meaning of this letter?

2. A) “It’s kept near the fleur-de-lys stamped jar in the healer’s box; what is this herb?”

B) This herb/plant is related to: ________
C) Answer B is used to do what in this section?
D) What other herbs/plants are mention in conjunction with answer B?
E) One of these herbs/plants produces a certain color, what is that color?

3. A riddle for you:

He learned from a famous Calvin;
although he bears more resemblance
to the wild man of Borneo…

“He” shares an acquaintance with Claire…
one who may have replaced
the dispicable du Carrefours.”

Please answer:
Who is the shared acquaintance, and
what city did each of these people
meet their common acquaintance in?

4. Her home in France seems to include much from a nearby country. Along with the intentional acquisitions, there is a fugitive from the same country. Name the “acquisitions” (both animate & inanimate), and the fugitive from this country.

5. Translate this:

Pater noster, qui es in caelis:
sanctificetur Nomen Tuum;
adveniat Regnum Tuum;
fiat voluntas Tua,
sicut in caelo, et in terra.
Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie;
et dimitte nobis debita nostra,
Sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris;
et ne nos inducas in tentationem;
sed libera nos a Malo

6. a life has been lost
a life is placed at the foot
a color remains

Whose life?
Whose life?
What color?

7. Name the man who wrote:
“freedom and Whisky gang tegither”
and name his poem too!

name the man, name the poem

8. A limb that’s injured
a creamy colored treatment
the beast who caused it

whose limb?
what is the treatment?
what beast?

9. News so long delayed
hand does not match appearance
“she” is met mid way

news regarding what place?
whose hand?
“she” is met by whom?

10. Fill in this crossword — or simply send us the words in a list format. The answers with 2 words do include an empty space in between the first and second word.

Across:

2. question 4 (2 words)
3. question 9
5. question 3 (2 words)
8. question 6
9. question 8

Down:

1. what did you translate in question 5 (2 words)
4. question 2 (2 words)
6. question 1
7. the word in question 7 that starts with an “E”

~Ladies of Clan Fraser

Note: I know the crossword is a bit difficult to read. I'm in the process of getting a bigger version that you can see the numbers, but until then:

From the top down the across clues are 2, 3, 5, 8 and 9. From Left to Right for down clues are: 6, 7, 1 and 4

This round of the Highland Games ends at midnight March 28. Submit your answers highlandergames@ymail.com.

Remember to put Fraser Challenge in the subject line of the e-mail. We automatically sort e-mails to make it easier. Please include your swap name, clan and Ravelry name, too.

Best of luck ladies
~Kellan

Winners: Six Degrees of Jamie Fraser

2009-03-10T15:20:00.000-04:00

A total of 31 of our lasses sent in their guesses. They ken verra weel just how to get to Himself! Of that, 21 earned a perfect score.

Those included in the drawing:

Camille (anyspunthread), Elspeth (georgethegirl), Morven (BessE), Murine (Bwarnergroup), Murron (lovestoknit), Nemetona (tandemsandy) and Shaylee (soniacolleen) of Beauchamp; Camille (WeeGnome), Nannag (LCBraun) and Phaedra (curlykat) of Clan Fraser; Kinley (Rehnbo), Mrs. Fitzgibbons (jules1960), Ceili (Theknittingmama), Brigid (ktreu), Isabeil (Emersch), and Ide (Annaed) of Clan Mackenzie; Joan (Vivian5), Marsali (mommaowie), Senga (robyn), Mary (Jenifair), Morrigan (Mainefan1)

If your eyesight isn't so great; Ian drew Brigid of Clan Mackenzie out of the hand-knit felted cloche.

Round 2 Clan Standings:

Beauchamp: 103

Fraser: 50

Mackenzie: 89

Murray: 92

Additional awards: (for bragging rights)

Early bird: Isabeil of Clan Mackenzie sent her answers in at 10:46 a.m. Feb. 26.
Sneaker: Kinley of Clan Mackenzie answers arrived with 12 minutes to spare 11:48 p.m. On 3/6.
Most Amusing: Lileas of Clan Fraser with: Johannes Gerstmann is an Austrian music master and friend to Mother Hildegarde - Mother Hildegarde has a dog Bouton. Bouton is not sure of Jamie when he first meets him at the Hospital. (I love Bouton and Lileas is the only one who brought Bouton into the chain, Mordag says)
Proofreader emeritus: Joan of Clan Murray corrected the spelling of Madame Vionnet from Vionette
Most elusive character from the list: Monsieur Parnelle. Out of the 30 entries, 5 of us didn't know who he is. I think he's really the janitor, disguised as a urinscopist and truss maker.

Statistics:

31 of 60 clan members participated in the first round of the Highland Games, that's 52 percent. This round, the four cheiftesses sat out, since they sponsored the round.

Clans Beauchamp and Murray each scored an additional point for having the highest participation in this round of the games.

21 clan members got a perfect score.

Clan Beauchamp had 60 percent or 9 of 15 members participate, earning 103 points.

Clan Fraser had 33 percent or 5 of 15 members participate, earning 50 points.

Clan Mackenzie had 53 percent or 8 of 15 members participate, earning 89 points.

Clan Murray had 60 percent or 9 of 15 members participate, earning 92 points.

Up-to-date Standings
Beauchamp: 232
Fraser: 146
Mackenzie: 207
Murray: 194

Special thanks goes to Mordag for writing the challenge, tallying the results and sending them to me.
~Kellan

Six Degrees Answers

2009-03-10T14:21:00.000-04:00

Here are the answers for the Six Degrees of Jamie Fraser. Challenge No. 2 covered Part 2 of Dragonfly in Amber.

1. Charles Gauloise was the lover of Annalise de Marillac. Annalise was Jamie's first love interest (Jamie had a crush on her.)

2. Johannes Gerstmann is the King's singing master who invites Claire to sing in his chorus. Claire is married to Jamie.

3. Madame Laserre is Louise's personal groomer. Louise is Claire's friend. Claire is married to Jamie.

4. Vicomte Marigny is the finace of Mary Hawkins who is a friend of Claire's, who is Jamie's wife.

5. Monsieur Parnelle is an unrinoscopist at L'hopital des Agnes where Claire also volunteers and Claire is Jamie's wife.

6. Portis is the captian of the Arianna, a ship owned by Jared Fraser. Jared is Jamie's uncle.

7. Vicomtesse de Rambeau is a customer of Master Raymond, who befriends Claire who is Jamie's wife.

8. Mr. Sheridan is the tutor to Bonnie Prince Charlie who calls James 'Friend'.

9. Nesle de la Tournelle is King Louis current "favorite", Louis invites Jamie to the palace.

10. Madame Vionette is the cook for Jared Fraser who is Jamie's uncle.

There were also other acceptable chains of connection - as long as it was a true connection. with at least one person in-between. These are the basic connections.

I'd like to say thanks to Mordag of Clan Murray for writing this challenge.

~Kellan

Challenge: 3 Beauchamps say 'Riddle Me This!'

2009-03-07T03:01:00.000-05:00

There once was a wee lass quite famed,
In whose honor our clan was so named.
Sixteen ladies so braw,
Nay one a scofflaw.
“Here be the game,” they proudly proclaimed!

Literature abounds with many characters playing some version of a riddle game, a formalized guessing game designed as a contest of wit and skill. Riddles come in many different forms. Our challenge features three different types of riddles or puzzles: limericks, anagrams, and simple word play.

LIMERICKS. Often witty, at times obscene, this nonsense verse entertained many o’ man around the campfire.

Ex: There once was a man from Lally Broch
Who, when overcome, sat and took stock
His eye bore his shame
“Failure!” he claimed
And awaited his punishment like a rock

Who is this man? Answer: Murtagh

1. "He had no wish to cast aspersions
Nay want to arouse suspicions"
Did he know about his wife?
Some say not on your life –
Cuckold simply a French tradition.
Who is he?

2. A prince whose funds were frighteningly low
And little or nothing to borrow.
With partner extreme
A new business scheme
From "where" would the needed cash flow?

3. A real man, full of secrets, for sure!
His thoughts, his deeds, many quite impure.
His wigs kept dusted,
Nay to be trusted
Who is this “invité d’honneur?”

4. To this “biscuit” family trilogy
Our fave Scot would’na pledge fealty
One blood, many lands,
Seeking an upper hand.
They fought to expand their realty.

ANAGRAMS are a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once. The best anagrams reflect in some way, or comment on, the subject. Example: Lord Lovat = Valor Dolt

5. A Darn John, All Tan
6. Our Entire Slum
7. Mama Crunch Acorns

CROSSWORD RIDDLES. Here you are given a clue to solve a question. But beware, some of these have a double or veiled meaning.

8. Murtagh’s eye, the morning after [two words, 12 letters]
9. Queen Charlotte’s "house" [one word, 11 letters]
10. A bird of prey stayed here [two words, 9 letters]

Luck be to ye!

~ Clan Beauchamp

Reminder this round of the Highland Games ends at 11:59 p.m. March 18. Points are awarded for participation, so even if you can't answer them all, submit what you can. Members of Clan Beauchamp will sit out this round, but ALL Murrays, Mackenzies and Frasers can play. Send your answers to highlandergames@ymail.com. Put Riddle Me This in the subject line. Please include your ravelry ID and Outlandish Swap name
~Kellan