By John Henderson
LINKS: “THE GENT & US” A 20th Century Link
1 No longer in clinical use, the analgesic and anaesthetic drug with the formula C12H25N.HCl is abused as a hallucinogen and referred to informally as “angel dust” – what is its three-letter abbreviation?
Answer - PCP
2 Countdown Conundra: (a) NEON GRILL and (b) ALPINE SUN rearrange to which English 9-letter words? LINK (middle parts of) 1,2(a)&2(b)
Answers - (a) ENROLLING (b) PENINSULA
Link - C + OLL +INS (Michael Collins)
3 Constellations: if Auriga is The Charioteer, Canis Major is The Big Dog and Ursa Minor is The Little Bear, what is Aquila?
Answer - THE EAGLE (has landed)
4 (a) Released 50 years ago on July 11th, which signature song by a cult figure who died in 2016 was inspired by a Stanley Kubrick film of the previous year? (b) What are the song’s first two words?
Answers - (a) SPACE ODDITY (b) GROUND CONTROL
5 I am a member of a current British political party that adopted the bird of liberty as its logo in 1988 after a series of identity and name changes … so I am a what (two non-abbreviated words, keep it clean please)? LINK 5&6
Answer - LIBERAL DEMOCRAT
6 Which Arthurian knight who went in search of the Holy Grail is eponymously the title of a Romantic opera by Richard Wagner?
Answer - LOHENGRIN
Link - ALD + RIN (Buzz Aldrin)
7 (a) Which Greek deity was the god of the Sun? (b) Which Roman deity was the goddess of the Moon?
Answers - (a) APOLLO (b) DIANA
8 What four-letter word can mean any of the following: a racing yacht of between 15 and 20 metres in length; an Austin car model produced between 1969 and 1981; a skirt, coat or dress that reaches down to the ankle? LINK 7(a)&8
Answer - MAXI
Link - Apollo XI
9 With the “real” first name Archibald, which iconic Emmerdale character was played by Stan Richards from 1978 until 2004?
Answer - SETH ARMSTRONG (Neil Armstrong)
10 How is the denary number “3” written in binary form? LINK 7(a)&10
Answer - 11
Two thematic phrases are spelt out by (a) the initial letters; (b) the last letters of the ten answers, reading upwards.
1 SMALL STEP (for The Gent)
1 GIANT LEAP (for Us)