mballan wrote:Links to
John Wayne Bobbit who had his penis cut off by his wife [hence the Ouch]!! Small step then to Babbitt.
Bet you didn't think I would use the "P" word !
That was a good one Rob........a real brain teaser at times.
Malc

Perfectly proper medical term. Wife's name was Lorena. Bobbitt went into porn for a while after his knob was stitched back on.
Anyway, most of the nasty tale is documented at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_and_Lorena_Bobbitt
So here's the whole quiz with the clues and answers and the logic(?) in-between.
1 *20cwt of mushy ...? (6) Piston (20cwt = 20 Hundredweight = 1 Ton : Mushy refers to Mushy Peas > Peas-Ton)
2 Silver foot-digit? (7) Argento (Ag = Argentium = Silver : a foot-digit is a toe > Argent-Toe)
3 An Aardvark's favourite composer? (7) Antheil (An aardvark is an ant-eater > Ant-Hill)
4 Tiny carpets? (7) Ruggles (A small carpet might be a Ruglet or perhaps a Rugle)
5 Assists. (5) Helps (Self-explanatory)
6 The Third ... (5) Reich (Self-explanatory)
7 ... get my bags up to my room NOW boy! (6) Porter (Self-explanatory)
8 Grainger's puss? (11) Persichetti (Percy's Kitty) (This was my favourite)
9 *London's Kings & Queens? (5) Perle (The Pearly Kings and Queens are a quite bizarre relic of Cockney London)
10 Transparent. (5) Glass (Self-explanatory)
11 Whipping-boy? (8) Flagello (Flagellum = a whip in Latin)
12 Nice & delicate. (4) Fine (Self-explanatory)
13 Thirteen. (7) Tredici (Italian for thirteen)
14 Opposite. (8) Converse (Self-explanatory)
15 In Latvia? (7) Riegger (Sounds like Riga, capital of Latvia)
16 A community filled with places of worship? (9) Templeton (Temple-Town)
17 Not quite John Wayne ...? OUCH! (7) Babbitt (John Wayne Bobbitt, no relation to Milton Babbitt)
18 *A 1970s street siege in London? (6) Bolcom (The Balcombe Street Siege; the pronunciations CAN be identical, especially in Southern England)
19 The hardest naturally occuring composer known to man. (7) Diamond (Self-explanatory)
20 *Horse's leather straps on the south coast? (9) Hovhaness (Hove Harness; Hove being a seaside resort in Sussex on the south coast of England)
I hope the few that took part enjoyed that.
I'll do another in a few days if people want.
Maybe Tim would like to do the next one?
Rob