Evil Grimace

Seventeenth hit: Shane MacGowan The second half of the belated update, as the forum was running as slow as treacle. Still a sweet treat with the dentally challenged hit. Despite the forum support for this hit, MacGowan was a 'wheat vs chaff' pick, with only 8 punters with the correct call, plus one joker. True to form, this hit causes trouble as everyone now has at least one penalty removed. At the 17th hit, all punters from the low end at 12 hits to the high end at 22 hits predicted all have the out by 5 penalty removed. Plenty more get added and removed too. Again a punter has scored +8 for their joker hit plus matching the exact prediction they made. Well done @tracy. Total hits: 9 Teams with hit: 8 Punters: Dying Probably, Joey Russ, YoungWillz, Summer in Transylvania, WinterCake, The Old Crem, Sean, diego Teams with joker: 1 Punters: tracy Yet another joker cashed, making it 25/30 jokers cleared. Third hit bonus First round (3 hits): N/A Second round (6 hits): YoungWillz, WinterCake Third round (9 hits): N/A Fourth round (12 hits): N/A Within 5 predicted hits: ThereWillBeDeaths7 (21 predicted hits) Within 1 predicted hit: TQR, Book, Torva Messor (18 predicted hits) Exact hit match: Etushispushingupdaisies, tracy, The Duke of Deadinburgh (17 predicted hits) Return of pentalies for those with low hit predictions. Exact hit loss (-4): theoldlady, gcreptile, wannamaker, LizLemon, Newjack (16 predicted hits) Being out by 2 hits (-2 points): Joltin Joe, YoungWillz, Bibliogryphon, Sean (15 predicted hits) Tracy vaults into 1st place with +8 to their score. It is worth noting that tracy has also hit the last four correctly (Rosalynn Carter, Ackland, Kissinger, MacGowan). Etushispushingupdaisies is in 2nd command with the threat of DoorSlammer in 3rd, thanks to many correct hits. With 30 days left in the year, what, if any, last minute surprising hits could there be? Updated Score MacGowan Joker Hit Third Hit Bonus Within 5 hits (22 predicted) Within 1 hit (18 predicted) Exact match (17 predicted) tracy 4 4 4 Etushispushingupdaisies 1 4 DoorSlammer -1 gcreptile -2 -4 wannamaker -2 -4 diego -2 1 Book -2 2 LizLemon -3 -4 Joltin Joe -3 -2 Bibliogryphon -3 -2 Grimgrass -4 Summer in Transylvania -4 1 The Duke of Deadinburgh -4 4 Annami -5 Torva Messor -5 2 TQR -5 2 Newjack -6 -4 Great Uncle Bulgaria -6 Dying Probably -6 1 Joey Russ -7 1 Sean -8 1 -2 YoungWillz -8 1 1 -2 Funeralopolis -8 Hell -8 The Old Crem -8 1 ThereWillBeDeaths7 -8 2 WinterCake -9 1 1 theoldlady -10 -4 chilean way -10 The Daredevil -12

Sixteenth hit: Henry Kissinger Another belated update, but well worth the wait - it was Kissinger after all. The one-two punches continue with back-to-back updates.  A top tier pick, as the fifth most popular pick, with 24 punters with the correct call, plus one joker. Considerable table jockeying in this update, however they won't stay the same for long. This has been a hit for 25 punters (24 hits, 1 joker). Many Third hit bonuses, with @DoorSlammer reaching the 4x bonus, having successfully called 12 hits. Total hits: 25 Teams with hit: 24 (it would be easier to list who didn't score!) Punters: Joltin Joe, gcreptile, Dying Probably, ThereWillBeDeaths7, wannamaker, LizLemon, Funeralopolis, Etushispushingupdaisies, Joey Russ, tracy, TQR, Summer in Transylvania, Great Uncle Bulgaria, DoorSlammer, Book, The Duke of Deadinburgh, Bibliogryphon, WinterCake, Grimgrass, Torva Messor, The Old Crem, Annami, Hell, diego Teams with joker: 1 Punters: chilean way Another joker cashed, making it 24/30 jokers cleared. 80% success rate! Third hit bonus First round (3 hits): Joey Russ Second round (6 hits): The Duke of Deadinburgh, diego Third round (9 hits): Dying Probably, ThereWillBeDeaths7, LizLemon, tracy, Summer in Transylvania, Annami, Hell Fourth round (12 hits): DoorSlammer Within 5 predicted hits: The Daredevil, Dying Probably, The Old Crem, Hell (21 predicted hits) Within 1 predicted hit: Etushispushingupdaisies, tracy, The Duke of Deadinburgh (17 predicted hits) Exact hit match: theoldlady, gcreptile, wannamaker, LizLemon, Newjack (16 predicted hits) Return of pentalies for those with low hit predictions. Exact hit loss (-4): Joltin Joe, YoungWillz, Bibliogryphon, Sean (15 predicted hits) Being out by 2 hits (-2 points): Joey Russ (14 predicted hits) Don't get comfortable people! All change please thanks to the miracle that was the 'Everest of Dentistry'! Updated Score Kissinger Joker Hit Third Hit Bonus Within 5 hits (21 predicted) Within 1 hit (17 predicted) Exact match (16 predicted) gcreptile 2 1 4 wannamaker 2 1 4 LizLemon 1 1 1 4 Joltin Joe -1 1 -4 Bibliogryphon -1 1 -4 DoorSlammer -1 1 1 Newjack -2 4 diego -3 1 1 Etushispushingupdaisies -3 1 2 Grimgrass -4 1 Book -4 1 tracy -4 1 1 2 Annami -5 1 1 Summer in Transylvania -5 1 1 Great Uncle Bulgaria -6 1 theoldlady -6 4 Sean -7 -4 Torva Messor -7 1 TQR -7 1 Dying Probably -7 1 1 2 YoungWillz -8 -4 Joey Russ -8 1 1 -2 Funeralopolis -8 1 The Duke of Deadinburgh -8 1 1 2 Hell -8 1 1 2 The Old Crem -9 1 2 ThereWillBeDeaths7 -10 1 1 chilean way -10 4 WinterCake -11 1 The Daredevil -12 2

I, for one, am pleased that political satire is now revelant again. And that the 'JD Salinger of demented music', Tom Lerher, has outlived him too. Ninja'd by @maryportfuncity

I always figured that DL forum members were the responsible type. This is the very definition of 'reduce, reuse, recycle'! I rarely find any eggnog in the shops and have experimented with recipes with 'mixed' results. Thanks for this @TQR, I'll give it a go. I now also have a source to point to when I get horrified looks for mentioning I like rum in my eggnog.

And that's what I get for my cursory reading of previous posts! We'll find out soon enough if we are right. @RoverAndOut thanks for keeping me honest.

I agree with @RoverAndOut that May is likely. I'll be bold and say Thursday 2nd May - it keeps the measures in January and April fresh in the minds of voters and is before the bank holidays. Easter early in 2024 on Sunday 31st March, so wouldn't break up April as a month for campaigning.

November 22 Fifteenth hit: Joss Ackland A belated update, but well worth the wait. While there has been discussion on the order of hits, Ackland vs Rosalynn Carter, (thanks to @tracy for researching this; it could be essential in the event of a tie), as stated above, I'm using the order they're listed on the DL front page. As this game is additive, the order of operations doesn't matter.  A middle of the road pick with just exactly a third of punters with the correct call. Considerable leap frogging in this update, with one player scoring +8 for marking their joker and matching the hits exactly. Congrats to @Bibliogryphon! This has been a hit for 10 punters (9 hits, 1 joker). Sparse number of Third hit bonuses, although @Book becomes only the second player to reach the 3x bonus, having successfully called 9 hits. Total hits: 10 Teams with hit: 9 Punters:Joltin Joe, The Daredevil, chilean way, ThereWillBeDeaths7, wannamaker, Etushispushingupdaisies, tracy, Book, Newjack In the strategy post I commented that it was rare that a player had two of the 'middle road' picks. Well @tracy has been the only one to chalk up the two recent hits of Rosalynn Carter and Ackland. Teams with joker: 1 Punters: Bibliogryphon The last joker to be cashed in was Barker; with this hit that is 23/30 jokers cleared. Third hit bonus First round (3 hits): N/A Second round (6 hits): chilean way Third round (9 hits): Book Within 5 predicted hits: chilean way, Summer in Transylvania (20 predicted hits) Within 1 predicted hit: theoldlady, gcreptile, wannamaker, LizLemon, Newjack (16 predicted hits) Exact hit match: Joltin Joe, YoungWillz, Bibliogryphon, Sean (15 predicted hits) Return of pentalies for those with low hit predictions. Being out by 2 hits (-2 points): Great Uncle Bulgaria, diego (13 predicted hits) This removes the +2 for being within one hit of the current total. Joltin Joe and Bibliogryphon are tie for 1st place with positive scores! A crowded 2nd place with 4 players - note @DoorSlammer's rank thanks to many correct hits. As the number of hits increases the higher guessing players are dominating the field. Will that continue? Only 39 more days to find out. Updated Score Ackland Joker Hit Third Hit Bonus Within 5 hits (20 predicted) Within 1 hit (16 predicted) Exact match (15 predicted) Joltin Joe 2 1 4 Bibliogryphon 2 4 4 DoorSlammer -3 gcreptile -3 2 wannamaker -3 1 2 Sean -3 4 YoungWillz -4 4 diego -5 -2 Grimgrass -5 Book -5 1 1 LizLemon -5 2 Etushispushingupdaisies -6 1 Newjack -6 1 2 Great Uncle Bulgaria -7 -2 Annami -7 Summer in Transylvania -7 2 Joey Russ -8 -4 Torva Messor -8 TQR -8 tracy -8 1 Funeralopolis -9 theoldlady -10 2 Dying Probably -11 The Old Crem -12 The Duke of Deadinburgh -12 Hell -12 WinterCake -12 ThereWillBeDeaths7 -12 1 The Daredevil -14 1 chilean way -14 1 1 2

This is the take home message. At 15 hits (and chance to improve) 2023 has secured a podium position. The DDP stands at 276 hits, only 5 away from a record. All this and there are 40 days remaining in the year. 2023 will be remembered as a banner year in deadpooling.

November 19 Fourteenth hit: Rosalynn Carter To borrow a line from @drol, 'That's how you do hospice Mr. Carter'.  A middle of the road pick with just over a third of punters with the correct call. With this hit, the jostling is now shoving, as many positions are crowded. No need to get comfortable, with two hits in one day. In terms of the order, I'm taking it as posted on the DL front page. This'll be a brief update. This has been a hit for 11 punters (11 hits, 0 joker). Sparse number of Third hit bonuses. Total hits: 11 Teams with hit: 11 Punters: gcreptile, Dying Probably, LizLemon, Funeralopolis, tracy, YoungWillz, TQR, Summer in Transylvania, WinterCake, Annami, Hell Teams with joker: 0 Punters: N/A Third hit bonus First round (3 hits): N/A Second round (6 hits): Funeralopolis, TQR Within 5 predicted hits: Funeralopolis, DoorSlammer, WinterCake, Annami (19 predicted hits) Within 1 predicted hit: Joltin Joe, YoungWillz, Bibliogryphon, Sean (15 predicted hits) Exact hit match: Joey Russ (14 predicted hits) And a new section - return of pentalies for those with low hit predictions. Being out by 2 hits (-2 points): Grimgrass (12 predicted hits) This removes the +2 for being within one hit of the current total. Diego maintains the lead, but there is a three way tie for 1st place. With an update to follow on Joss Ackland , don’t get too comfortable…. Updated Score Rosalynn Carter Third Hit Bonus Within 5 hits (19 predicted) Within 1 hit (15 predicted) Exact match (14 predicted) diego -3 -4 DoorSlammer -3 2 Joltin Joe -3 2 Joey Russ -4 4 Grimgrass -5 -2 Great Uncle Bulgaria -5 -4 gcreptile -5 1 wannamaker -6 Bibliogryphon -6 2 Etushispushingupdaisies -7 Book -7 LizLemon -7 1 Annami -7 1 2 Sean -7 2 Torva Messor -8 TQR -8 1 1 YoungWillz -8 1 2 Newjack -9 Summer in Transylvania -9 1 tracy -9 1 Funeralopolis -9 1 1 2 Dying Probably -11 1 theoldlady -12 The Old Crem -12 The Duke of Deadinburgh -12 Hell -12 1 WinterCake -12 1 2 ThereWillBeDeaths7 -13 The Daredevil -15 chilean way -18

Has anyone seen this? Any thoughts on what the episodes might be? My cursory look at Wikipedia narrows down the Dalek episode mentioned to either 'Mission to the Unknown' or one from 'The Daleks Masterplan'. No hint on the other, except it being from the Hartnell era. Lost Doctor Who episodes found – but owner is reluctant to hand them to BBC

The October estimate is a bit skewed as there were 25 hits and 4 obits found from past hits (8 August Squires, 13 September Yolande, 24 September K Baxter, 21 August E. Hoffman), making the October monthly rate high, on par with January. Regardless of when the hits came, they still add towards the final total. At the time of writing, the hits stand at 270, only 11 hits away from a new record. Again, the final total estimates have increased, having broken the 300 barrier. With 50 days left, a new record is certain, but how far will it go? Month Hits Predicted Total October 29 307 September 24 299 August 26 296 July 24 292 Jan-June 161 290

Cardinal Ouellet has decent odds at 7/1, but his chances are rapidly diminishing. He'll turn 80 on 8 June 2024, less than 8 months away. And don't I know it that he's almost been Pope before (Gambling on papal elections).... I've used that betting slip as the bookmark to my copy of 'The Screwtape Letters' by C.S. Lewis.

I'm guessing those odds came from this website (last updated 14 July)? Next Pope betting odds Two Americans listed with Timothy Dolan 12/1 and Raymond Leo Burke 8/1. Both are behind Canadian Mark Ouellet 7/1. (Yes, I know I'm replying months late. I was cleaning up browser tabs and bookmarks and remembered this; the next post is the good one).

WeWork files for bankruptcy in the US, which affects the company's business in the US and Canada. WeWork forced to file for bankruptcy in the US Ousted founder Adam Neumann's comments on the situation are amusing at best, as I'm sure it is "disappointing" and "challenging for me to watch" on top of the pile of money he was sent off with back in 2019.

Rob Burrow continues the form spotting opportunities with 'Seven: Rob Burrow, the podcast' hosted by himself and his wife. First guest has been Wayne Rooney. Wayne Rooney talks of alcohol struggles in new Rob Burrow podcast