My friend, Serge, and I have devised this beautiful literary puzzle for you. Well, 91% Serge, and only 9% me. Identify the literary work alluded to in each of the below phrases. (Almost all of these are fairly well-known, and almost all were written in English.)
1. Liquor and tobacco products carrying the "Victory" brand.
2. Narrator finds it odd that someone would refer to a Christmas tree using expletives.
3. A parlor game that solvers of this puzzle might enjoy leads to a minor character being
denied tenure.
4. Does it really matter *who* prevents a bulldozer from completing its task?
5. Title character realizes how lucky he is to be an albino.
6. Despite its late recipient's gentlemanliness, a burned letter signed by a repeated
initial is still partly legible.
7. An elderly doorman blames himself for the end of human civilization as we know it,
since it resulted from him once letting in a certain captain to see his financier boss.
8. A supposedly-intelligent bird writes its name with the first two letters reversed.
9. Narrator realizes that a shovel is more militarily useful than a bayonet.
10. A bicycle is securely tied down, to make sure it can't escape.
11. A high-school teacher has trouble climbing against the current (so to speak).
12. Two men contemplate changing their given names (to the same one), to accommodate their
girlfriends' fantasies.
13. Garbled Russian is used as teen slang.
14. River-faring narrator's uncle is hopelessly incompetent at hanging pictures on walls.
15. Story ends with major character, who had earlier obtained Swiss citizenship, coming
home to hang himself.
16. Narrator fails to convince his interlocutor that half the salary at one-third the cost
of living is an improvement.
17. Title character has often seen an X without a Y; but a Y without an X?
18. Popular web site named after herein-used term for "humanoid."
19. Painter visiting small town mocks female athlete, said town's chief claim to fame.
20. Story starts with narrator and his valet arguing about some minor sartorial matter;
ends with narrator conceding. (Serge is indulging in lovable mischief here. Just name the
author)
21. The hawk from the island south of Sicily never actually appears in the story, to the
chagrin of many of the main characters.
22. The main character finally gets to make love to his friend, but she doesn't marry him,
evidentally preferring to commit suicide with her boyfriend.
© Copyright Serge E., Douglas Shaw 2001
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Doug Code 6/2001:c hrixm ifb is himbkhpb op c pknoifpru phcnu lomg. hzkr ziqmpim