Hi Tallulah,

This was in Tuesday's Guardian and it was one of several that had been
set by Bunthorne before he died recently.

He was very good and I managed to solve most of Tuesday's, including
the one I now offer you as a challenge:

CLUE: Its help for free for the one of you two, they say; hoi polloi
get nothing (3,4,7)

To be fair, I did have a few letters that helped so, if you can get
this without any letters, then you are over-qualified to remain in
Mensa.

Please, NO HELP for Tallulah unless she has admitted defeat and then
it's a free-for-all.

Gaylord

---

Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 13 Sep 2006 11:17 PDT

Is it PRO BONO PUBLICO?

---

Clarification of Question by probonopublico-ga on 13 Sep 2006 11:21 PDT

Oh Tallulah

You got it SO quickly: in less than 3 minutes!

Please post your resignation letter to Mensa as quickly, after first
posting your answer here.

Also, tell me how you managed to do it so quickly.

A Dumbfounded Gaylord

Mon cher Monsieur Ravenal,

I'd rather not resign from Mensa just yet. I paid a hefty sum about
six months ago which secured me a one-year membership, and I'd like to
get my money's worth. The membership card is very useful for scooping
up peanuts at parties and for swatting intellectual insects
(particularly the odious Spelling Bee). It can also come in handy as a
"Get Out of Jail Free" option if one is stopped for exceeding the
Intelligence Limit.

My strategy:

CLUE: Its help for free for the one of you two, they say; hoi polloi
get nothing (3,4,7)

I immediately saw "the one of you two" as "Bono" (the lead singer of
the rock group U2), and from there it was simple:

for = PRO
the one of you two = BONO
hoi polloi get nothing = PUBLIC 0 (public zero) = PUBLICO
It's help for free = PRO BONO PUBLICO

Oddly enough, I hate crosswords with this kind of cryptic clue. I am
fairly good at solving such puzzles, but they annoy me unless people
are offering me money for solving 'em. ;-)

I hope I won't be accused of Showboating.

~The Pink Magnolia

Hi Tallulah

Very impressive!

The Bono bit went right over my head ...

And it was only after I had got the last 'O' that I equated 'hoi
polloi' with 'Public'.

I am sure that no one else in the entire world could have done it so fast.

A Seriously Impressed
Gaylord

Dear Seriously Impressed Gaylord,

Thanks for the ego boost, the starry multitude, and the monetary
reward! As it happens, "hoi polloi" is a pet term that I've found
amusing for many decades. Somehow it reminds me of "hoity-toity",
which has an opposite connotation. I have several pet words and
phrases that I've coddled over the years. I keep my pets in a nice
little kennel at the back of my mind, and I throw them tasty scraps of
the "food for thought" that I gather on a daily basis. Occasionally my
pets yap for attention and I have to drag them out on parade, but
mostly they just snooze until I come looking for them for a crossword
puzzle or such.

A Spuriously Impressive 
Pink

Firstly, in my mother tongue (Afrikaans) cryptic crosswords puzzles
are quite difficult to come by and good ones have sadly all but
disappeared. I'm gradually getting into English crosswords, but it is
much more challenging for a non-English speaker...

Secondly, I have been a secret admirer of Pinkfreud ever since I first
came accross Google Answers and I usually do a search for all
Pinkfreud's answers or comments.

Since this question not only involves two of my "passions" (crosswords
& Pinkfreud), but also leaves me wondering about probonopublico's GA
user name, I find it impossible NOT to comment on it - or rather, ask,
I guess...

What does "probonopublico" actually mean? Obviously you would not have
chosen it as a GA username unless it meant something, nor would
Bunthorne have put it in a crossword puzzle.

So, for me it wasn't only the Bono bit that went right over my head,
but the whole thing...!

Many thanks, Magnolia, for everything!

For flaub-ga, here's a definition: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro_bono_publico

I chose it as my 'handle' because I do quite a bit of that stuff and I
found GA helpful for fleshing out my knowledge before important
meetings ... it made me look a whole lot smarter than I really am.

Good luck with the Crosswords! I attempt the Guardian every morning
and whenever I train it up to London I also attempt The Times.

I have tried various foreign language crosswords but never with much success.

Gaylord