2023 Christmas Quiz - the Answers!

Sorry to have kept you waiting so long, but I rather forgot that I owed everyone some answers. So without any further ado, here we go.

	Clue	Answer	Reference/Comment
1	Midnight	John “Midnight Rambler” Ambler	1969 Rolling Stones song
2	Dragon	Bruce “Dragon Slayer” Baer	Misnomer, as he never plays 1 e4
3	Habsburg	Andy “Habsburg Archduke” Baruch	Bit forced, but how else to get a rhyme for such a strange name?
4a	Imperial	Steph “Imperial State Crown” Brown	Could she be descended from the Romanov dynasty?
4b	One Horse	Steph “One Horse Town” Brown	Not sure if Kenilworth even has that many!
5	Lord	Bernard “Lord Darnley” Charnley	Murdered husband (1546-67) of Mary Queen of Scots
6	Puff the Magic Dragon	Mike “Puff The Magic Dragon Lived by the Sea and Frolicked in the Autumn Mist in a Land Called Honah Lee” Donnelly	Classic 1963 folk song by Peter, Paul and Mary
7	Weather	Patrick “Weather Beaten” Eaton	Well, he’s had a hard life
8	Blacksmith	Billy “Blacksmith’s Bellows” Fellowes	He’s a country boy at heart
9a	Belly	Ben “Belly Laugh” Graff	He’s got a great sense of humour
9b	Transport	Ben “Transport Caff” Graff	Mis-spelling deliberate for rhyming purposes!
10a	Grand	Paul “Grand Slam” Lam	He could win it – if he played tennis.
10b	Wham Bam	Paul “Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am” Lam	Actually a 1950 Dean Martin song. What did you think it meant?!
10c	Hoover	Paul “Hoover Dam” Lam	Iconic 1930s engineering marvel on the Colorado River in Nevada
11a	Waifs	Solomon “Waifs and Strays” Hayes
11b	Dog	Solomon “Dog Days” Hayes	A period of inactivity or decline. Appropriate or not? I leave it to you!
11c	Polluter	Solomon “Polluter Pays” Hayes	Are you listening privatised water companies??
11d	Latest	Solomon “Latest Craze” Hayes
11e	Mysterious	Solomon “Mysterious Ways” Hayes	Popular misquotation from a 1773 hymn by William Cowper
12	West*	Tony “West Wing” King	Classic US TV series.
13	Abercrombie	Gregory “Abercrombie and Fitch” Kornilovich	American “lifestyle retailer” with nearly 900 stores
14	Black & Decker*	Paul “Black & Decker Drills” Mills	I believe these are handy for DIY tasks
15	Sid	Nigel or Will “Sid and Doris” Morris	Sid and Doris Bonkers, the only 2 fans of Neasden FC in Private Eye
16	Now	Harry “Now Hiring” Myring	Pathetic, I know, but you try and come up with something better
17a	Minimum	Mark “Minimum Wage” Page	£8.60 per hr from 1.4.24
17b	Difficult	Mark “Difficult Age” Page	I seem to be stuck in this
17c	Narrow	Mark “Narrow Guage” Page	Choo choo!
17d	All the World	Mark “All the World’s a Stage” Page	The Bard – As You Like It
18	Rebel	Keatan “Rebel Yell” Patel	1983 song by Billy Idol
19	Purple*	Steve “Purple Rain” Payne	1984 song & album by Prince
20	Stiff	Joshua “Stiff Drink” Pink	I think you need one if you’ve got this far
21	Draft	Bernard “Draft Dodgers” Rodgers
22a	Henry	Hector “Henry the Fifth” Smith	1386-1422. King for 9 years and hero of Agincourt
22b	Bara	Hector “Bara Brith” Smith	A traditional Welsh bread
23	Late-Night	George “Late-Night Shopping” Topping
24	Fire	Andy “Fire on Board” Ward	The title of GM Alexei Shirov’s best games collection
25	Stay Out	Roy “Stay Out of the Hot Sun” Watson	See 16
26	Johnny	Rod “Johnny Reb” Webb	Symbolic name for Confederate soldiers of the US Civil War
27a	Greater	Phil “Greater Good” Wood
27b	Chewing	Phil “Chewing the Cud” Wood
27c	Blue	Phil “Blue Blood” Wood	He’s probably got some – well, he is descended from chess royalty!
27d	Elmer	Phil “Elmer Fudd” Wood	Arch-enemy of Bugs Bunny in Looney Tunes cartoons
27e	Little Red	Phil “Little Red Riding Hood” Wood
28a	Big	Lionel “Big Bang” Zhang
28b	Andrew	Lionel “Andrew Tang” Zhang	Ultra-fast US GM – online username is penguingm1

I hope everyone managed to score at least a few points - and solve their "own" clue. Though I realise that some of the individual rhymes were probably impossible, even if you worked out who they related to. But if people will insist on having difficult names ........... Not sure what might constitute a good score, but I'd be interested to hear from anyone who thinks they've got a chance of claiming first place. There's no prize (of course!) but you will have the honour of being the KCC Rhyming Slang Champion - in perpetuity. We're going to need quite a turnover in membership if there's ever going to be a second edition of this quiz, and I don't think I will be around to set it!

No shortage of musical references here, so lets finish with 2 songs. The first just so you can see I'm not making it up, and the second cos' everyone surely likes to join in the chorus!  (Even me, and its not my kind of music at all!)