Part I: The names in the Penelope group all have equal numbers of vowels and consonants. The names in the Abigail group all end in L. The names in the Elia group are all four letters long. The names in the Helen group can all be turned into other names by adding an A to the end. Therefore, the middle name which is part of all four groups must have an equal number of vowels and consonants, end in L, be four letters long, and be another name when given an extra A on the end. The only name I can think of that fits is Paul.

Part II: I am not British, but I think I solved the entire thing. The blue group is the faces on Mt. Rushmore: George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson. The red group is characters from The Good Life: Thomas, Barbara, Margo (I think; my non-Britishness is showing here, but Wikipedia seemed to think so), and Jerry. The peach group is characters from Seinfeld: Jerry, Elaine, Cosmo, and George. The green group is characters from The Famous Five: George, Dick, Julian, and Anne. The orange group is composed of the Queen's children: Anne, Charles, Edward, and Andrew. And the yellow group is composed of the patron saints of bits of Britain: Andrew, Patrick, David, and George. The middle name, of course, is George.

Part III: This was very difficult, and I haven't really solved it (I think Douglas will be proud of the strength of this puzzle). But someone else suggested a way of solving this part which I think may be partially correct. The head of studio is S, and sacked is another word for fired (but for the purposes of this puzzle the D is removed). The only number contained in typists is pi, so removing that gives TYSTS. Treble is another word for three, and et al means co-writers. The 9 suggests that the answer has nine letters. Taking all those bits together gives SFIRETYSTSTREBLEETAL, which can be rearranged to spell BEATLES, FIRST LETTER Y. The Beatles wrote a song called Yesterday, which has nine letters.

But this isn't the end of the puzzle. The puzzle has four parts, and this is only the third. So there has to one more answer. Plus, the entire puzzle is called "Who's Missing?", and the answers to the first two parts were names. So I think that the answer to Part III must also be a name, probably of one of the Beatles. We know that Yesterday was co-written by Paul and John, but Paul is the answer to Part I. This leaves us with John as the answer to Part III.

Part IV: If the other answers are correct, then there is only one missing Beatle. The answer to Part IV, and the entire riddle, is Ringo.

Gappy

4y↑3

OK, I guess the answers will be revealed tomorrow, so I think I'm going to have to admit I am not going to solve parts 3 & 4. I shall now post my most interesting toyed-with answer, just to show willing, as I've not been shy about explaining why I suspect other people are wrong (just out of the love of the quiz, you understand, not because I'm a miserable joyless bastard; at least, not solely).
Studio = ATELIER
With head sacked (opening letters removed) = LIER
Typists = POOL
Without = around, in the a slightly archaic sense, which is sometimes used in cryptics to wrong-foot us
Number = V (Roman numerals)
So, put LIERPOOL around V and you get Liverpool. What has that to do with "3 co-writers"? It's the clue's definition because Henri, McGough and Patten are the 3 writers who constitute the Liverpool poets (or, at the very least, they're the three collected in The Mersey Sound, the famous anthology).
So, still The Beatles, right? Nope, that's a red herring, it's to do with cathedrals, because Liverpool cathedral is the biggest in the UK, and St Paul's surely is up there too...and, there's a RC cathedral of St George the Martyr in London, I dare say that's pretty big. So, just find the other biggest one, and the saint after whom it is named.
Taa-daa!
And, now the reasons that's clearly wrong:
1) Why would the "head" of atelier be the first 3 letters? The first letter, sure, but why the first 3? "Ate-" is not even the first syllable.
2) The game, and each round, is called "Who's missing?" and Liverpool is not a person (unless we mean Lord Liverpool, the Prime Minister. Which we don't).
3) They;re called the Liverpool poets, not just Liverpool; and they aren't really "co-writers", anyway, just connected writers.
4) What the hell sort of puzzle expects people to know about the dimensions of UK cathedrals, outside to The Church Times puzzle page? Even if it's right, I don't know what the 4th is. How do you even define "largest" here - volume/height/number of punters who can comfortably kneel at one time? I'm amazed I managed to dredge up the fact that Liverpool is the largest (though I forget which sort of largest it is).
Then I contacted my friend who's an academic in this area and he told me that there are 4 cathedrals in London which are, in ascending date order, St Paul's, St George's, Westminster and Southwark St Mary's (swap the last two around depending on whether it's date of completion or consecration). And, look, Southwark has 9 letters! And, "Head of studio sacked" gives you S + OUT! And you get HWARK by- oh, quick, look over there, a bishop dressed as John Lennon!
Scarpers

Darren Parnell

4y↑2

Possible answers to date (18/6/2020 21:00 GMT!), collated from this thread and Twitter, where people seem less engaged!
Solution 1: Consensus on Paul, no alternative suggested

Solution 2: Consensus George, no alternative suggested

Solutions 3 & 4: Multiple guesses at solution 3, only 2 pointing at a 4th solution. I think they are as follows; chime in if I'm missing any:

The solution to part 3 is either John or Ringo, with the other being solution 4 by implication. Suggested the hinted-at 9 word could be Finnemore indicating John as part 3 and Ringo as part 4. No strong deduction other than inference from solutions 1 & 2.

The solution to part 3 is Aristotle, with the 4th solution being a name that fits the group Paul, George, Aristotle and X.

The clue in part 3 gives Tennessee Monkey Trial, which associates with the 9 letter word Evolution and gives us John, as in John Scopes. Part 4 is the answer to Who Is Missing? which in this case is definitively Ringo.

The clue in part 3 leads to an anagram which gives the 3rd solution: BEATLES, FIRST LETTER'S Y. This implies solution 4 is Yesterday. This solution has been criticised for not directly answering the question "Who's Missing?" and an errant D if you believe that "sacked" can only lead you to "Fired" and not "Fire."

I still feel the final guess at solutions 3 & 4 is correct. I address the criticisms as follows, and in reverse order:

We know that the puzzle was set by Douglas. Cabin Pressure fans may recall that sometimes Douglas would bend the rules ever so slightly, especially if he thought doing so would make him look clever. I don't think he'd worry too much about thumbing his nose at "cryptic convention" and altering the tense of a verb to make his clue work.

My theory is that although the puzzle was set by Douglas, it was named by Arthur. He saw that missing names were an element in the first two puzzles and named the whole puzzle "Who's Missing?" without realising that it would drive some of his viewers to the brink of madness!

[Edited to re-insert paragraph spacing, without which it was a chore to read!]

Dawn T

Ok, going to throw some of my musings for part 3 out there to see if it helps in the slightest. I don't claim to have originated all the ideas but I think I've played around with combinations of all of them!

Head of Studio
The letter S
An actual person (would potentially give a name?)

Sacked
Implies anagram or maybe getting rid of something

Typists without number
Typists minus pi
Steno(s) minus ten or no
Pool minus L or the o's
Infinite monkeys?

Three
Tri, ter or tre
iii (seems unlikely)

(Three) Co-writers
Et al
Tri al
Pens (commonish cryptic answer for writers but then why is the clue CO-writers?)

I still feel like we're searching for a 9 letter name although it could potentially be someone's nickname which widens the potential answers a lot.

chris dempster

4y↑3

Calm down everyone I've got this
Et Al means "and others" but we've got three other's don't we so it's Tri-al.
the Infinite typist's a Monkey so we're looking for a Monkey Trial
The Studio is ITN remove the I and we have TN - The postcode of Tennassee
Never a Monkey Trail in Tennasseee you say? well https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopes_Trial
The defendant JOHN Scopes was accused of teaching.... EVOLUTION (9)
Leaving Ringo as the missing 4th
bows Thank you, bows Thank you. Please let me know how I can claim my drawing.
.
P.S. (obviously I don't think that's right but it was fun to piece together, and I throught I'd throw the Tri Al thing into the discussion as there might be something in that... Honestly I rather liked @Dawn T 's solution I just don't know how Aristotle fits into the 4 person line up)

David Collins

4y↑3

Who's Missing? Part 1.
Penelope was the name of one of the Royal Navy ships involved in the Falklands War of 1982. AL was the two-letter code painted on the flight deck of HMS Alacrity - another ship involved in the Falklands War. Raul was the name of an Argentinian soldier in the war. OMAR was shorthand for Old Man At Rest - what we used to say when the skipper was asleep in his cabin on board Alacrity during the war. Eric was your projectionist drinking Kia Ora (which is on sale in the foyer) and that reminds me of one of my jobs on board ship was to show reel-to-reel films during the Falklands War. Marian was one of the nurses on the Hospital Ship Uganda in the war and Daniel reminds me of the school play 'Daniel and the Lion's Den' - which is what it was like in the Falklands War. That suggests the answer is War.

Now if only I could get the other three circles to match....

Who's Missing? Part 2.
That one is easy - Christopher Eccleston - The 9th Doctor (New Who).
The whole puzzle is in the shape of a bow tie - and 'Bow Ties are Cool' was a saying used often by Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor. (And Doctor Who is a British TV Show)...
David - Tennant (played 10th Doctor). Edward - Bazalgette (Directed 4 episodes 2015/16) during Peter Capaldi -12th Doctor era. Julian - Bleach (played Davros against 10th/11th and 12th Doctors). Elaine - Tan (Played Nigata in 'Sleep No More' a storyline with Peter Capaldi as the 12th Doctor. Barbara - Wright (one of the companions of the first Doctor and the first Doctor meets the 12th Doctor in 'Twice Upon a Time'). Theodore - Theo Hogben was a set dresser in 'The Haunting of Villa Diodata' starring Jodie Wittaker as the 13th Doctor.
The only Doctor in New Who missing is the 9th Doctor.

Who's Missing? Part 3
Head of studio sacked typists without number and three co-writers (9)
So we know there were four co-writers - one of which is the head of studio. Given that there were nine in total then nine minus the four writers leaves five typists so we now have a number - five. So who's missing ? - Number Five from "Short Circuit" as voiced by Tim Blaney (Number 5 later nicknamed "Johnny 5")

Martin Hotchkiss

2. Fabulous foursomes. Spoilers ahead....

Left hand side: Jerry, Margo, Barbara and Tom - The Good Life
Top left: Jerry, Elaine, Cosmo (Kramer) and George - Seinfeld
Bottom left: Tom (Thomas Jefferson), Abraham (Lincoln), Theodore (Roosevelt), George (Washington) - Mount Rushmore faces
Top right: George, Dick, Julian and Anne - Famous Five
Right hand side: Anne, Charles, Edward, Andrew - The Queen's children
Bottom right: George, David, Patrick and Andrew - UK patron saints

PeppaCat23

Part 1 is Paul - OhMyChuckster worked out all the bubbles!

Part 2 is George. The links are:
Pink is Seinfield - Jerry - Elaine - Kramer - George
Yellow is Saints - George - David - Patrick - Andrew
Orange is Queens children - Andrew - Edward - Charles - Anne
Green is Famous Five - Anne - Dick - Julian - George
Blue is Mount Rushmore - George - Theodore - Abraham - Thomas
Red is The Good Life - Thomas - Barbara - Margo - Jerry
😊😊😊
Still trying to work out part 3 lol

All comments from YouTube:

Loz

4y↑22

Arthur, I'm going to miss you so much. Please tell your friend John Finnemore that I appreciate whatever he may have done to help you make this series.

Exayevie

4y↑39

Surely I’m not the only one who got just a little emotional about going to 26 right?

Franko Walker

@DWLostCompanion I only found it last night. 22/03/21 :(

DWLostCompanion

4y↑2

I’m so angry I missed the party and I’m only playing ketchup now

Kjat Jonzz

4y↑12

Epic, thank you so much for these. It's making lockdown bearable!! I really miss Cabin Pressure - maybe you could do a 0-9 2nd series??! Xx

Jablička

4y↑21

Aha! Part 2 I can fill, really and properly.

Theodore was my lovvely babycat. Julian is my ex-husband. Barbara is his ex. (E)laine is a mutual friend of J and myself. David and I shared a house many years ago. Edward(s) is the surname of someone on this list. Therefore, the missing person is me, because I've met them all.

This is all true, by the way. Corroborating evidence can be supplied.

Nandi B.

4y↑7

As predicted by Douglas in Episode 11, these puzzles have indeed wiped the smile off my face :|
Good job to those who have figured them out!!

Kirsty McAllister

4y↑31

Everyone keeps threatening to come and tune your piano. I want to clean the keys.
A damp cloth might do it - if not, some Pledge on a duster.

pd 4wine

Put cat food on them and a cat will lick them clean

Leigh Johnson

Kirsty McAllister they are pretty grubby

Malea Hill

4y↑17

This intro will forever be the theme song of Quarantine 2020

Rachel Pearce

4y↑2

It was on Radio 3 yesterday and I actually briefly wondered why it was in an orchestral arrangement!

Lydia

4y↑2

And it will go faster and faster and faster......

Kim Moore

4y↑3

LEMON! Brilliant work on the piano progress, Arthur. 👍🏻

Educated inYellow

Thank you so much for all these wonderful episodes, Arthur (and John!) You have been so lovely to share them with us all this time. <3

RandomNexus ThatSillyFiccer

4y↑1

Your piano playing has developed SO Well! applause
Egad, Douglas, not only are those - yes - impossible, but I'm not even British = I'm screwed!
Oh, and I see the lemon is in play... (not talking about the shirt, though I am coveting it mightily.)

Nin Stardust

4y↑1

Thank you lovely people in the comments who are as stumped on part three as I am! It's been driving me insane that I can't figure it out and it's so comforting that I'm not the only one stuck on it! Douglas is mean * sulk* Is this revenge for us solving the last lot of puzzles too quickly?

Darren Parnell

4y↑1

I think they cracked it over on Twitter - https://twitter.com/TankertonLatch/status/1272907847815303174 - though I seem to be something of a Cassandra for believing that!

FrankChickens

4y↑7

There were twenty-seven episodes of Cabin Pressure Arthur, you forgot about the Christmas special. Unless you were counting the two-parter as one then in that case it was twenty-six.
As for the clues, I'm with Arthur.

Ben Willis

4y↑2

Z is only one letter so I'm counting Zurich as a single episode.

FrankChickens

@Lucy Ashford I mentioned that in my post.

Lucy Ashford

Plus the Christmas special

Sue Williams

4y↑1

I've just found out that Arthur's friend John has set a couple of Listener crosswords. I bet he's helped Douglas. No wonder this is so impossible!

OmniCognate Snr

I think we need you back Arthur. Maybe you can get Douglas to do something clever with the international date line so we can all get a crack at Christmas 🥺

Darren Parnell

4y↑2

Seeing as everyone's sharing wild ideas they had I thought I'd share my own wrong deduction I'm nonetheless proud of:

Typists without number - If we take typists to be stenos then the number could be NO or NOS - Nitrous Oxide is laughing gas, which can be used as a numbing agent or "number," as in that which makes you numb! It is referred to as NOS by racers. Was pretty pleased with myself for thinking of this but it didn't get me anywhere!

Any other part-baked theories out there?

Darren Parnell

4y↑1

So stupid that I'm sure it won't factor into the answer - has anyone considered that the number in typists could be the i, as in the roman numeral for one? Happy 4am, brain!

davimurph

4y↑1

Arthur, you are much too kind to do 26 of these vlogs. Thank you

Dawn T

4y↑1

Well, I still don't know 'who's missing' for part 3 but I certainly know what's missing - my sanity!

Ben Willis

4y↑16

Part 2:
George
Red: Jerry, Margot, Barbara and Tom (the Good Life)
Pink: Jerry, Elaine, Kramer and George (Seinfeld)
Green: George, Dick, Julian and Ann (humans of the Famous Five)
Blue: Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, George Washington (Mount Rushmore)
Orange: Anne, Charles, Edward, Andrew (Queen's Children)
Yellow: George, David, Patrick, Andrew (patron Saints of Britain)

pintpot

4y↑2

Excellent, but 'UK', not 'Britain - Mr Pedantic

VonBlade

4y↑3

Oh well played.

Book Worm

Madeleine Swann

We’re going to miss you Arthur :(

OhMyChuckster

4y↑10

Part I is Paul: The Elia set are all 4 letters long, the Helen set can all be followed by an A to make a new name, the Abigail set all end in L and the Penelope set are all 50% consonants, 50% vowels

Nin Stardust

TheWizardMarnok Same here! The Penelope set totally stumped me!

TheWizardMarnok

4y↑1

brilliant! I missed the 50/50 rule and somehow concocted a flase and wrong one. I can stop thinking about it now, thanks!

Edward Taylor

4y↑3

Hooray. The brilliant new episode

StrangerThanString

4y↑1

Whose missing? Douglas, Martin, Carolyn & Herc are missing! From this brilliant show!!

Bjiorn Bjiorn

4y↑2

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one playing the traveling Lemon game at home.

chris dempster

4y↑2

after all these wholesome interactions I honestly care more about whether Richard and Dawn are going to grab a post lock-down drink together, than I do about the answer to the clue.

Dawn T

4y↑1

We should definitely all raise our drink of choice to each other when we finally find out the solution!

chris dempster

4y↑1

@Gappy If you ever find yourself in Glasgow buddy :)

Gappy

4y↑2

You're a cheeky one, aren't you? I think we should all go for a drink; your round...

Liz Teather (Turtle)

Thank you Arthur for these lockdown sanitysavers. You are BRILLIANT! But you never said what happened to the mouse family? Do tell!

Liz Teather (Turtle)

Definitely. There are worse things you can do with a lockeddown brain.

Darren Parnell

4y↑1

Does it count as a sanitysaver if you spend all day obsessing over the answer to a puzzle?

Wrentiel

4y↑1

Part 1 has to have 4 letters, the first and last of which are consonants, half of which are vowels, and the last of which is an L. So Paul, Joel, Noel, Neil, or Neal.

Lynsey Christie

We believe part 1 is Paul, 2 is George, 3 is Ringo, and so John is missing. We are not completely sure why in all cases, but it feels right, and mostly we're just pleased we have an answer of some sort. So I reckon I'm allowed to go to bed now....

EDIT. Husband James would like more credit, about 80% maybe. His famous five knowledge, however, is shocking!

Michelle S

4y↑2

Taking a shot at part 3:
Line 1: BBC-B=BC
Line 2: Steno-ten=SO
Line 3: et al.
Rearranged letters are co-Beatles. No idea where the 2nd E is. Don't be so picky.
Edit: unless line 2 is stenoes-tens=SOE

Derek Czajka

I was just wondering when we’d get more puzzles from Douglas, and was all excited at their return ... only to discover that they’re visual puzzles. Ah well, maybe next time.
Sincerely,
A disgruntled blind follower of this series

Loz

4y↑3

Part three is the sentence: Head of studio sacked typists without number and three co-writers. (9)

Loz

4y↑4

Part two is two interlocking triangles that overlap at one of their vertices. This is where the missing part Douglas wants to know resides. I will call it MP. There are many missing names down the sides of the triangles and each side is a set. Set one is ?, ?, Barbara, ?, set two is ? (as it overlaps with set 1), Elaine, ?, MP. set 3 is ? (overlapping with set 1 at the opposite vertex), ?, ?, Theodore, MP. With the second triangle, set four is ?, ?, Edward, ?, set five is ? (overlapping with set 4), Julian, ?, MP, set six is ? (overlapping with set 4 at the opposite vertex again), ?, David, MP. Good luck!

Loz

4y↑3

Part one is four interlocking bubbles containing 8 names, which all converge in a missing part - a four oval Venn diagram. I will put a question mark where the missing name is, in case the order is somehow important (I cannot make heads nor tails of this puzzle myself.) In bubble 1 there are the names; Helen, Michael, Daniel, Marian, Tess, Carl, ? and Eric. In bubble 2 there are Penelope, Omar, Eric, Marian, Al, Raul, ? and Daniel. In bubble 3 there are Elia, Phil, Raul, Omar, Tess, Carl, ?, Eric. In bubble 4 there are Abigail, Phil, Carl, Michael, Al, Raul, ?, Daniel. I hope this helps!

Gappy

4y↑3

Martin Hotchkiss

4y↑2

Thanks for this Richard. It did seem tantalisingly plausible. It's also given me the courage to admit to the bonkers rabbit hole that I ended up going down. STENOGRAPHERS (typists) with S (head of studio) removed (sacked) and without TEN (number) but with TRI (three) added, giving TRIOGRAPHERS. Not a three 9 letter word, I realised, but at least something that seemed like it might have a connection with co-writers I thought. Maybe there is a trio of biographical writers who worked together, I mused, and perhaps there may be some 9 letter name associated with them. Some quick googling for TRIOGRAPHERS yielded a book called "Intimate Companions: A Triography of ..." and I can't tell you how excited I was when I saw the first two names "...GEORGE Platt Lynes, PAUL Cadmus,..." but you can probably guess how disappointed I was when I saw the last name was "...Lincoln Kirstein", not 9 letters and no 9 letter names or even words associated with the book. Also, they were hardly "triographers" but rather the subjects of a "triography" and not exactly household names. Oh well! Here's hoping Arthur puts us out of our misery soon, or maybe Douglas will take pity on us and give us a clue.

chris dempster

@Gappy love it! and I do think you're onto something about the beatles being a red herring. I've been working my way through a list of various other Georges that might make a list (kings, prime ministers, medals etc.) the Paul certainly kicks many of those into the long grass

Gappy

@Darren Parnell Ha ha, how do you know I've "descended" and haven't been bobbing down here you a long time? Puzzles like this are good for the mind, I think, whether you solve them or not. It's been fun trading ideas with you 2.

Darren Parnell

@Dawn T Confusingly, I think the only thing that makes sense at this point is to wait to hear Yesterday tomorrow!

Dawn T

4y↑2

I don't think I have ever anticipated a YouTube video as much as the next episode of Cabin Fever. I just want to know!
There's some excellent logic going on in your workings. It's an entertaining answer and probably about as likely to be correct as anything else we've come up with!

1 More Replies...

Stephen

4y↑4

There seems to be Paul and George as two answers. Part three is Ringo Starr, so I bet John is the answer to the missing part 4 question... the 4 Beatles.

Ringo Starr is 10 letters. Hmmm. But I bet Ringo, John and The Beatles are the answers SOMEHOW!

Mordecai Weynberg

4y↑1

I'm sad to hear these are ending your bounces happiness has really hellt me

BudgieMinions

The lemon is most certainly in play behind you Arthur.

Gappy

4y↑1

Slightly embarrassed to admit I jumped up at breakfast this morning, having realised Paul and George are the forenames of the opening vocalists in Band Aid. Sadly, having checked, the next two are George and Simon.

Dawn T

4y↑1

I'm still expending far too much time and effort on this too. But it's so tantalising!

Darren Parnell

4y↑2

Zwiezwerg92

4y↑14

There is an easy mnemonic trick how you can memorize all the four Beatles!

Michael Wilson

4y↑1

that was a good sketch

Stuwii 628

4y↑8

Please write some more Double Acts. Or rather should I say Arthur please can you ask that weird guy you know called John if hes got any plans to write some more Double Acts..

R G

4y↑1

Or in quarantine perhaps even... solo acts?

rcmayhem

4y↑1

I think part 1 might be Paul from the bubbles I can work out - Aidan

Sue Williams

Part 1 is Paul and Part 2 is George (already explained by others).
I think part 3 is John but I can't quite work it out. I think that the 9 letter name is Finnemore but haven't got the elements worked out. I'm assuming that "Typists without number" means "infinite" (as in an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of typewriters eventually writing the works of Shakespeare).
If 3 is John then 4 would be Ringo.

pintpot

I think you could be right

Darren Parnell

"Without number" already means "too many to count" so you still need to find a use for typists in your answer. I still think that TankertonLatch has got the right answer over on Twitter, and find his most of his other tweets to funny and his opinions to be right on - well worth a follow.

Gappy

4y↑6

I was just thinking of specific film studios with the first letter removed. Fox to give us OX, RKO to give us KO, etc. I've had to stop now, having started giggling like a schoolboy when I got to Studio Canal

MsEllenolenska

Arthur's duvet & pillow cases are from IKEA!

Joseph Haig

I have no idea about parts 1 to 3 but is the answer to number 4 'Carolyn'? The last time you did Douglas' puzzles the 4th puzzle was 'Carolyn level' and this time the 4th puzzle is missing.

Josh Andrews

4y↑1

I think Paul is the answer to the first part.

Dawn T

I think the missing person in part 2 is George. The famous five got me started.

74bish

That’s what I was thinking too.

TheWizardMarnok

4y↑4

so "head of studio" is the letter 'S', so sack the letter "s" are you are left with "Tudio";
"typists without number" are 'monkeys';
and three co-writers are a sheet of triplicate carbon paper.
Solves itself.

VonBlade

Pretty sure part two is sitcom stars. But that's because Barbara makes me think of The Good Life and I can recall other names in sitcoms, even if Julian makes me think of Round the Horne. Who am I kidding, this is all way out of my league. Curse you Emu for Q3.

David Goffin

Yeah, me too. The Good life on the left with Jerry intersecting with Seinfeld, George at the centre, but that leads out to the four humans from the Famous Five - and not Julian, Sandy and Kenneth! Don't know about the others though - Ann on the Edward vertical for Royals?

Stephen

4y↑2

Part 4 is missing! I bet it is the accumulation of parts one to three...

Martin Hotchkiss

4y↑2

Perhaps the missing person from puzzle 3 is not actually the 9 letter answer to the cryptic clue but rather that they are missing from the clue itself. Maybe adding the missing name to the clue allows it to be solved and then the 9 letter answer to the clue gives the final 4th puzzle to be solved.

Gappy

4y↑1

I agree. It's cute to think that here is a puzzle to a 9 letter word that would only work if you had, say, "John" in the clue, but it's a route to madness. I'd say a puzzle's only fair if, once you have the answer, it seems eminently solvable.

Darren Parnell

@Gappy If that is the case (it isn't) then the name to be added is probably related to Paul or George, which people seem to agree is the right answer. But I don't think adding an unknown quantity to the puzzle is going to make it easier to solve. Of course, I saw a possible solution on Twitter and am assuming it to be correct. I think you're correct that the answer to the third puzzle is the fourth clue.

Gappy

I did think of that, but then my head started to melt.

Dawn T

Gappy

@chris dempster I really like that, great thinking...the trouble is, although there a bunch of people with the surname Arthur, I can't think of anyone with a surname Carolyn (or Hercules, if it were males only), which would be the logical options to finish a group like that. Hmmm....

Whilst I'm here, I did wonder earlier today whether typists might be "admin". Loads of numbers in that ripe for removal: D, M, I, MI, N.

chris dempster

4y↑1

@Dawn T @Richard Catherall
.
I'm not saying you're definately right but Paul Douglas was a famous actor in the 40s.... George Martin is pretty well known too raises eyebrow

Dawn T

@Darren Parnell Incredibly difficult true. But if we've learnt one thing it's never to underestimate Douglas!

Darren Parnell

@Dawn T I appreciate that, my point is that as a format it seems very loose; I'd imagine it to be very difficult to come up with a set of four celebrities with associated last names wherein one of the four sunames is obscure enough that only one notable person has it. Much like the idea suggested of adding a name to the clue that would suddenly reveal an answer, it's a lovely thought but I think it would be incredibly difficult to concoct such a puzzle.

Dawn T

@Darren Parnell He's not trying to claim that compass directions are the answer, in fact he clearly says that he isn't doing that. He's just suggesting it as the format part four might take.

6 More Replies...

Jackie Bermingham

Is one of the missing things meant to be part 4? That seemed to only be 3 puzzles. Or maybe I missed the point of one of them. I'm quite stumped on all of them, anyway

chris dempster

4y↑1

guys, what if we don't get the new video till we solve the puzzle?
.
what if Arthur is the one missing!

Darren Parnell

4y↑1

@Gappy Hopefully his location wasn't hidden in the answer to the puzzle or he's stuffed... Somewhere in Liverpool? Abbey Road? An Octopus' garden?

Gappy

Ha!

Herbi Varsawus

While we're not on the subject, I have three ways in which something can be bigger than the box it's in: 1) The human soul or spirit; love, hope etc. are bigger than a human body. 2) The TARDIS is theoretically possible in the sense that something may possess greater surface area within than without, or so says modern theoretical physics. 3) What if you order something inflatable, like a dingy or something?

VonBlade

4y↑1

I won't discuss 1 and 2 for obvious reasons, but 3, an inflatable dingy only becomes larger than the box it's in due to air, which was already outside of the box, thus the dingy, when inflated, is still only as big as the box. grin

chris dempster

4y↑3

Gappy

@Darren Parnell Yes, it was just a gag. But if I look at it long enough I could convince myself that anything's right!

chris dempster

@Darren Parnell You surely don't mean to suggest Douglas made a mistake? No, @Richard Catherall has clearly happened upon the final clue...."R" is missing

chris dempster

@Gappy And the final piece of the puzzel Falls into place! :D

Darren Parnell

@Gappy I think you're thinking of either Revolution or Revolution 9! (I'm fairly sure you're joking but don't want to give false hope to anyone trying to crack this conundrum!

Gappy

4y↑1

And Evolution (9) is a track by The Beatles!!1!

4 More Replies...

Julie Winkless

4y↑2

I'VE GOT IT!

It's synoptics and John is missing

Julie Winkless

4y↑1

@Gappy A big nut to swallow: some kind of crazy word god

I think I have a new tshirt

Gappy

Julie, you should put this on your CV. At the top. Congratulations on your epic deduction.

I meanwhile, will be popularising my new phrase, "a big nut to swallow".

Gappy

@Darren Parnell Well, my anagram had "fab" in it, that's Beatlesy ; )

But, yes, that's why we don't see eye to eye here. You used the word "assume" in your comment, and I guess that's it, I think in a strong puzzle you shouldn't have to assume anything, no matter how likely it looks, it should all be there for the unpacking without you needing to fill in any gaps yourself (mixed metaphor alert!), just like in your nonograms - which is a new word on me, incidentally, for which I thank you. It might come in handy in a future cryptic crossword!

Darren Parnell

@Gappy OK, I understand why that solution's bothering you quite so much now, I'm not used to cryptic convention. But bearing in mind that it's part 3 of a larger puzzle and that consensus is that Paul and George are correct, and that the Beatles is the most logical connection between those two names, when your solution to part 3 has the words "Beatles" in it AND it works as a clue for the mythical missing fourth answer, it seems illogical to assume that isn't the answer the puzzle setter had in mind and is therefore the correct answer, even if it doesn't tie in with convention.

On a personal level I think it's clever to have Beatles in the anagram as it means a) You have a better chance of solving it if you know the answers to parts 1 & 2 and b) A computerised anagram solver won't churn out the right answer as Beatles isn't a real word, you have to figure it out for yourself.

But yeah, now I appreciate why you don't find it as satisfying an answer as I do, I simply am unfamiliar with the convention that you are and so it doesn't bug me as much as it does you. I spend a lot of time solving nonagrams on an app that lets users submit their own, and it frustrates me when a puzzle requires guessing which areas on the grid to fill in rather than having one logical answer.

Gappy

A big nut to swallow isn't an idiom, is it? LOL

32 More Replies...

Dawn T

4y↑1

Could number 3 be Aristotle?
Typists = stenos
If you 'sack' or remove s (studio head) and ten (number) you're left with the letters S O.
To this add TRI (three) and ET AL (co-writers) to get SOTRIETAL which is an anagram of Aristotle.

I'm not certain I'm correct especially as I really can't think who would make a fourth person to go with Aristotle, George and Paul!

Gappy

I don't suppose there's a special name for a bust that might be used by an artist or hairdresser to draw or to hold wigs....

Gappy

Well, I guess "studio" in Latin would be "I study" or thereabouts, maybe Aristotle was the best at it. Failing that...https://aristotle.photography/

Gappy

@Dawn T Oh, yes,sorry, right you are.

Dawn T

@Gappy I have no problem with a bit of good old fashioned pedantry!

Although to be pedantic myself I am only using the words after sacked - S(ten)O + TRI + ETAL. 'Head of Studio' is then used as the definition (which as I said is rather a stretch...) But I do rather agree that steno feels problematic as a singular.

Sigh, the hunt for a truly satisying answer continues...

Gappy

@Dawn T Brilliant work. At the risk of being called pedantic - hey, if the shoe fits - my parsing would be that if "sacked" is being used as an anagrind, it can then only refer to the bits afterwards, meaning the final word would have to start with the S[tudio].

I'm also not convinced "typists" can be "steno"; "steno pool" or "stenos", but not "steno" singular.

3 More Replies...

Mart Ravo

4y↑1

Don’t go Arthur!

DWLostCompanion

I see it! I found it!!! Haha!

Stephen

4y↑1

So Hester took the... lead

Valerie Park

No idea, except perhaps the second part has Barbara Steisand and Elaine Paige?

kittykat520

4y↑2

I saw the lemon in the thumbnail but I wasn't sure if that was what I was seeing...I had no idea what else it could have been, but I still wasn't sure.

AliceAcronom

I spy a lemon wedged in the banister

Valda Grimborn

It's definitely there. Look closely.

Gemma Moore

I need to clean the piano!

Red Scharlach

4y↑4

I reckon the ? in Part II is George....

Dobby Titch

I spotted the Lemon straight away!!!!!

Darren Parnell

Accepting bets up to the value of £500 on Yesterday being the ultimate solution.

Gappy

@Darren Parnell I dare say that's against YouTube's T&C, but if you were sitting next to me now, I'd out on £20 at 5-1 (after asking how you got into my house).

Darren Parnell

@Gappy I'm serious, I'll even offer odds! Stake £10 and I'll pay £50 if Yesterday isn't the answer.

Gappy

"Bets today: all my money seems to drain away..." ;)

Leigh Johnson

4y↑3

But Arthur, there were 27 episodes in the documentary series Cabin Pressure, not 26!

Lesley Fuller

I need that t shirt!! Xxx

Richard Gaston

i do

David Collins

4y↑3

David Collins

Oh - and I am really disappointed that the radio waves from BBC Radio 4 don't reach New Zealand so I have to listen to it on-line from my laptop.

Darren Parnell

The answer to the third part has been solved on Twitter by some kind of handsome genius:

https://twitter.com/TankertonLatch/status/1272907847815303174

Gappy

Yes, I am fully aware that I've not managed to crack this, so take my comments with all the salt you can muster! I'm afraid I still can't convince myself that "yesterday" can be the answer to parts III or IV, but I certainly don't intend to be rude to either you or Tankerton :)

Darren Parnell

4y↑1

@Gappy I guess we'll wait to see who's right - Tankerton who has a solution that doesn't exactly fit your "cryptic convention" (I can't see where it says it will), or your guess, TBA?

Gappy

@Darren Parnell It doesn't say everything is a name, but the pronoun "who" ion the title strongly implies it.

Gappy

@Darren Parnell It all depends on whether this is following cryptic convention. If it is, then a) and b) won't fly, essentially.

Darren Parnell

@Sue Williams Nowhere in the rules does it say all the answers are names. It does say it's a four part puzzle but only gives three parts. The answer to the third part is the fourth part, and the answer to the fourth part is Yesterday.

11 More Replies...

Shaz Prior

It was in the banister

Martin Hotchkiss

TheWizardMarnok

1. Will
(EDIT : Got carried away, posted too fast, this is wrong)

TheWizardMarnok

Someone else said "Paul" and that makes more sense given the overall thing

TheWizardMarnok

2. George (probably)

PeppaCat23

Sianah Jons

I think it’s disgusting that the cabin pressure episodes have been removed from YouTube. YouTube must have, dramatically, increased your listenership, compared to radio 4 and 4xtra. I’m a long term fan, since your early days and saw you on tour last year, too

Olwen Poulter

The original Alan Bennett Talking Heads videos have also disappeared with the arrival of new versions on BBC TV. My suspicion is that the BBC hopes that rebroadcasing will persuade people to pay good money to purchase copies of the original.

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