THE GREEK INTERPRETERS

  Fall Meeting: October 2nd, 2012, Country Club of Lansing

The Engineer's Thumb



An Acrostic prepared by The Chemist

The first letter of each correct answer, read vertically, will form a phrase.

1. What the engineer saw between two boards in the press chamber: _______   (2 wrd, 6, 5 ltrs)

2. Like Oliver Twist, the engineer was one: _______   (1 wrd, 6 ltrs)

3. The damp broke through the walls in green: ______   (2 wrd, 9, 8 ltrs)

4. The first train station on the way to the Stark's house: ______   (1 wrd, 7 ltrs)

5. The final train station near the house was at: ______   (1 wrd, 6 ltrs)

6. The radius in miles drawn on the map by inspector Bradstreet (in Roman Numerals): ______ (1 symbol)

7. The train station close to Watson's practice. (not a bear): ______   (1 wrd, 10 ltrs).

8. The pressure exerted by the hydraulic press: ______   (1 wrd, 8 ltrs)

9. Holmes ordered a breakfast of eggs and: ______   (1 wrd, 7 ltrs)

10. Regarding secrecy, the engineer obeyed Stark's: ______   (1 wrd, 10 ltrs)

11. In his first meeting with the engineer, Stark was worried about: ______  (1 wrd, 13 ltrs)

12. According to Watson, where this story has been told more than once: ______   (1 wrd, 10 ltrs)

13. Warburton and Stark had this rank in common: ______   (1 wrd, 7 ltrs)

14. Normally unhealthy, Stark's was his natural habit. ______  (1 wrd, 10 ltrs)

15. The engineer's surname: ______  (1 wrd, 9 ltrs)

16. Where Holmes sat while questioning the engineer (a big one): ______  (1 wrd, 8 ltrs)

17. In which direction from the village station did the inspector think the house lay? ______   (1 wrd, 5 ltrs)

18. In which county does the village lie? ______   (1 wrd, 9 ltrs)

19. The engineer regarded the fuller's-earth story as: ______  (1 wrd, 9 ltrs)

20. In which direction from the village station did the engineer think the house lay? ______  (1 wrd, 4 ltrs)

21. In which direction from the village station did Watson think the house lay? ______   (1 wrd, 5 ltrs)

22. One of the metals stored in an out-house: ______   (1 wrd, 6 ltrs)

23. What Holmes asserts started the fire that destroyed the house: ______  (2 wrd, 3, 4 ltrs)

24. The color of the horse pulling Stark's carriage: ______   (1 wrd, 8 ltrs)

25. How often Watson persuaded Holmes to visit him: ______   (1 wrd, 12 ltrs)

26 This adventure takes place not long after Watson's: ______   (1 wrd, 8 ltrs)

27. Where Holmes kept the plugs of his previous day pipe smokes: ______  (1 wrd, 11 ltrs)

28. The immense appearance of the smoke cloud from the burning house: ______   (2 wrd, 7 ltrs each)

29. The engineer's business hours began at: ______   (1 wrd, 4 ltrs)

30. Stark was willing to pay the engineer fifty guineas for his: ______   (1 wrd, 7 ltrs)

31. The old house had ______ winding staircases.  (1 wrd, 6 ltrs).

32. What Holmes said the engineer had gained from his adventure: ______  (1 wrd, 10 ltrs)


View Answers


1. yellow light
2. orphan
3. unhealthy blotches
4. Reading
5. Eyford
6. X
7. Paddington
8. enormous
9. rashers
10. injunction
11. eavesdroppers
12. newspapers
13. Colonel
14. emaciation
15. Hatherley
16. armchair
17. south
18. Berkshire
19. elaborate
20. east
21. north
22. nickel
23. oil lamp
24. chestnut
25. occasionally
26. marriage
27. mantelpiece
28. osrtich feather
29. nine
30. opinion
31. narrow
32. experience

your experience has been no common one