Top Labyrinthier Hall Of Fame

[Elethiomel]

Thumbs up to Suspence for making the breakthrough on my puzzle. I realize that it isn't a particularly easy one.

[Suspence]

1 ) Backup plans supplement heresy - we'll just fly away - AEROSMITH = OTHER AIMS / OR ATHEISM
2 ) Oppose foreign master crook - a cool customer - VANILLA ICE = CAVIL ALIEN / ACE VILLAIN
3 ) Prejudiced majesty debilitates craftsman - find out why - INSPIRAL CARPETS = PARTIAL PRINCESS / CRIPPLES ARTISAN
4 ) Empower friendly progressive priest - he lost his vision - ANDREA BOCELLI = ENABLE CORDIAL / LIBERAL DEACON
5 ) Gambling pair examines pyramid - order in from Zanzibar - TENACIOUS D = CASINO DUET / AUDITS CONE
6 ) Esteemed follower at summit - might sanction torture? - IRON MAIDEN = DEAR MINION / ON MERIDIAN
7 ) Dust hounds exhume deity - away from home in Georgia - OTIS REDDING = DIRT DINGOES / DISINTER GOD
8 ) Songbird curbed cardinal proprietor - express yourself - NEW ORDER = WREN RODE / RED OWNER
9 ) Lunar joke gains charm - you can give it to me - TOM JONES = MOON JEST / NETS MOJO
10 ) Pig ignited scientific uproar - in free fall - ORBITAL = BOAR LIT / LAB RIOT
11 ) Naughty man violates bedclothes - submits to double shifts? - = /
12 ) Overgrown parcel spoiled limestone - with tomato glop - = /
13 ) Park rangers plunder shellfish - engaged in car chase - SNOW PATROL = LAWN TROOPS / LOOT PRAWNS
14 ) Latest ox nurtures child - or was it a male donkey - = /
15 ) Conifer worship on website - with acacia roots - IMOGEN HEAP = PINE HOMAGE / IN HOMEPAGE
16 ) Practices nasal beer consumption - absolutely unpredictable - LONESTAR = LEARNS TO / SNORT ALE
17 ) Reddish brown artillery crater - first strike on Manhattan? - LEONARD COHEN = HENNA COLORED / ORDNANCE HOLE
18 ) Canary combined flower scent - a supernatural delight - TOPLOADER = RAT POOLED / PETAL ODOR
19 ) Moronic duo attracts weasels - never a dull moment - ROD STEWART = TWO RETARDS / DRAW OTTERS
20 ) Diseases welcome masculine disasters - happy birthday - = /
21 ) Outburst moves radical writer - up the creek - = /
22 ) Fresh hot wind officer - gunned down in self defence - ERIC CLAPTON = CLEAN TROPIC / CLARINET COP
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Suspence]

8 ) Songbird curbed cardinal proprietor - express yourself - NEW ORDER = WREN RODE / RED OWNER

10 ) Pig ignited scientific uproar - in free fall - ORBITAL = BOAR LIT / LAB RIOT
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[novice]

Prejudiced majesty is PARTIAL PRINCESS.

[Suspence]

Thanks, I've added that.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[novice]

[novice]

2 ) Oppose foreign master crook - a cool customer - VANILLA ICE = CAVIL ALIEN / ACE VILLAIN
4 ) Empower friendly progressive priest - he lost his vision - = /
7 ) Dust hounds exhume deity - away from home in Georgia - OTIS REDDING = DIRT DINGOES / DISINTER GOD
11 ) Naughty man violates bedclothes - submits to double shifts? - = /
12 ) Overgrown parcel spoiled limestone - with tomato glop - = /
14 ) Latest ox nurtures child - or was it a male donkey - = /
15 ) Conifer worship on website - with acacia roots - = PINE HOMAGE / IN HOMEPAGE
20 ) Diseases welcome masculine disasters - happy birthday - = /
21 ) Outburst moves radical writer - up the creek - = /

[Suspence]

[Suspence]

4 ) Empower friendly progressive priest - he lost his vision - ANDREA BOCELLI = ENABLE CORDIAL / LIBERAL DEACON

20 ) Diseases welcome masculine disasters - happy birthday - ALTERED IMAGES = MALADIES GREET / MALE TRAGEDIES

It seems like 21) up the creek should be Cheap Trick, but I haven't found the anagrams I need.

So far, that gives us AVIATION TO??S?ILLTRA?E
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[esme]

11 ) Naughty man violates bedclothes - submits to double shifts? - = / ??
12 ) Overgrown parcel spoiled limestone - with tomato glop - LAS KETCHUP= LUSH PACKET / UPSET CHALK
14 ) Latest ox nurtures child - or was it a male donkey - = /
21 ) Outburst moves radical writer - up the creek - CHEAP TRICK?? =

AVIATION TO?LS?ILL TRA?E
_________________
Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.

[novice]

11 ) Naughty man violates bedclothes - submits to double shifts? - = / ??
14 ) Latest ox nurtures child - or was it a male donkey - = /
21 ) Outburst moves radical writer - up the creek - DIRE STRAITS = TIRADE STIRS / RED SATIRIST

AVIATION TO?LS?ILL TRADE

[novice]

AVIATION TOLLS KILL TRADE makes sense as a sentence, like the other clues.

[novice]

11 ) Naughty man violates bedclothes - submits to double shifts? - LEANN RIMES = MALE SINNER / REAMS LINEN
14 ) Latest ox nurtures child - or was it a male donkey - = /

AVIATION TOLLS ?ILL TRADE

[novice]

14 ) Latest ox nurtures child - or was it a male donkey - KAYNE WEST = NEWEST YAK / WEANS TYKE

[Suspence]

I don't actually get the clues for Leann or Kanye. I've got nothing on the finale yet.

AVIATION = flight / flying / pilot
TOLLS = fees / taxes / charges
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Scurra]

Is "tyke" - meaning child - a UK colloquialism? (I know it's used here for someone from Yorkshire, but I thought that the baby definition was fairly general.)

(Nothing doing on the final answer here either, but given that I've not heard of quite a few of the main answers, it's possible I might not spot anything.)
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[Suspence]

At least where I am in the US, tyke = child.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Suspence]

AIRCRAFT FEES / ERASE TRAFFIC

Is there a band called SECRET AFFAIR?

EDIT: I guess so - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Affair - but I've never heard of them.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Suspence]

Would someone care to explain novice's? I never got beyond the list of lyrics I posted.

I'm useless on anything that is directly musical, and it appears most of the remaining ones are of this type. I may be out for the rest of this round, but I might take another look at Scurra's:

Haunting Notes

0:01 - 0:03 - Black Lace - Agadoo
0:04 - 0:09 - David Bowie - China Girl
0:10 - 0:13 - The Pogues - FairyTale of New York
0:14 - 0:20 - BoyZone - Love Me for a Reason
0:21 - 0:27 - Alvin Stardust - My Coo Ca Choo
0:28 - 0:34 - Beatles - Penny Lane
0:35 - 0:40 - Boney M - Rasputin
0:41 - 0:49 - Rihanna - SOS
0:50 - 0:56 - Coldplay - Speed of Sound
0:57 - 1:04 - Spice Girls - Stop
1:05 - 1:07 - Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams
1:08 - 1:13 - Kinks - Waterloo Sunset
1:14 - 1:18 - Shakin' Stevens - You Drive Me Crazy

21 10 02 01 07 01 29 04 25 08 18 06 19 03 04 06 21 03 03 06 16 05 01 12 04 03
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Scurra]

[Suspence]

Ah, I see. After reading up on rhyme schemes, I was wondering if ABBA was a reference to an A B B A scheme.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[novice]

[Suspence]

Gotcha.

I also wanted to say "nice puzzle" to El. It was really fun to try to solve. I wish we had made the leap without your little push. Given the title, I think we should've gotten there.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Elethiomel]

Thanks!

[esme]

[esme]

@groza:

Which lines do you recommend for starting, i.e. of having the best chance to be known?
_________________
Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.

[groza528]

[groza528]

By the way, I actually *scoffed* at the early comment that implied I might not have used real physics.

[esme]

[groza528]

OK good, glad that was clear enough then. Some clarification on balloon size below (spoilered)
If you actually do the math on some of the other balloons you will see that they are not powers of two. Also, all colors should be different sizes though some are quite close-- the colors for a distinct pattern to help sort those out a little.

[MNOWAX]

[Elethiomel]

I haven't started any solving, I just want to note that Scurra and Groza's puzzles look very nice and polished. Oh, and Novice's puzzle is an obvious ripoff.

[Suspence]

Scurra's appears to be a split up Sudoko grid. I'm trying to arrange them in a way which yields a unique solution, but haven't quite found one yet. Anyhow, I'm off to the dentist...ugh.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Scurra]

Well I think I've ID'd all the films for Novice, Elethiomel and Jack_Ian (I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad that I didn't even have to look up the name of the Seinfeld episode...!) But no more progress than that so far.
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[groza528]

For Scurra's I would like to think that the pictures of the women will somehow determine how these pieces fit into a sudoku. Before I took a close look at the pictures my immediate thought was "Brady Bunch." Doesn't look like the photos are unambiguously facing in different directions, though.

It DOES appear that the givens in the grid may have a vertical line of symmetry (though I expected rotational.)

Also, thanks El

[Scurra]

With groza's, I have run into a problem early on:
There's only one region the L can be (with 5 neighbours.) The O and the T must be the two adjacent regions that don't cross the equator (because the hares don't live in the southern hemisphere.) The O must also be the forest region (because of the B) but that means that the B and the T both have to be the other desert region.
I assume I must be making an elementary mistake somewhere, but - as usual - I can't see what it is.

p.s. for my sudoku - yes, it should have been rotational symmetry. I wish I'd thought of that at the time...
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[esme]

It didn't say that the hares were ubiquitous on Ottakun. Also, there are two regions with 5 neighbours on the same continent. I ran into trouble later on.
_________________
Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.

[groza528]

For scurra's puzzle, I still maintain that there must be a pattern based on the women. If there isn't, then the three major rows and columns in the sudoku can be swapped around indiscriminately. If anyone can identify them I think that's a good first step.

[Suspence]

I don't recognize any of them, which made me figure they might be British.

I found Bonnie Langford pretty much by searching for redheaded actresses. She's on the 6823 square.
http://iaith.tapetrade.net/meltotv.jpg

She's from Dr. Who apparently, so maybe the other actresses link to that as well?

Seems so, the blonde on the 8 square is Billie Piper.
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.aoltv.com/media/2006/06/billie_piper.jpg
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[groza528]

Makes sense, "Who are you."
I've actually made some good progress but I admit to using a sudoku solver so I'm not going to share it here.
Scurra: On the square with the 6823 given, there's a box with no words... should that contain the word "a"?