7 minutes ago, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

Metaphysical poet and Dean of St Paul's, John Donne.

'No man is an island...'

Christ. Good get.

'Twas on my HSC English exam (1971!), Mazer, along the lines of 'Compare and contrast: 'No man is an island...' (John Donne) and 'I am a rock, I am an island...' (Paul Simon)

You got my juices going, too, Demonstone (and you other 'setters).

We have Frank 'Checker' Hughes to thank* for this team's Firsts spell...

F         FANNING F.   USHER R.   CORDNER T.

HF      HEYWOOD D.   SMITH N.   IRWIN R.

C         ANDERSON S.   SPENCER S.   BARASSI R. Snr

HB       EMSELLE R. CORDNER D.   ARNOLD L.

B         McMAHEN N.   EDGE B.   DOWSING R.

Foll     ELLIS N.   McGRATH S.   O'KEEFE J.

19th/20th            NIVEN C.   SPITTLE M.

(*Thanks to Demonwiki, too)

Edited June 12, 20214 yr by Timothy Reddan-A'Blew
Added credits

18 hours ago, Big Col said:

left out John Kerr!

John Cur wasn't it??

F.U.C.H.S.I.A.S.      B.E.C.A.M.E.       D.E.M.O.N.S. 

Sorry Timothy, all your hard work spoiled so early! 

I'll try to make amends by posing the finest cryptic crossword clue I ever encountered.

HIJKLMNO (5)

The answer is a common English word. 

 

59 minutes ago, demonstone said:

F.U.C.H.S.I.A.S.      B.E.C.A.M.E.       D.E.M.O.N.S. 

Sorry Timothy, all your hard work spoiled so early! 

I'll try to make amends by posing the finest cryptic crossword clue I ever encountered.

HIJKLMNO (5)

The answer is a common English word. 

 

H2O (Water)

56 minutes ago, demonstone said:

F.U.C.H.S.I.A.S.      B.E.C.A.M.E.       D.E.M.O.N.S. 

Sorry Timothy, all your hard work spoiled so early! 

I'll try to make amends by posing the finest cryptic crossword clue I ever encountered.

HIJKLMNO (5)

The answer is a common English word. 

 

'Tis only fair, good sir, that you should take home the Flag! I'm actually pleased it got such quick attention, and I don't mind 'early'; as you would know, the fun is in the setting! Did you need the '...team's Firsts spell...' wordplay??

And I see you weren't the only early bird!

7 minutes ago, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

Did you need the '...team's Firsts spell...' wordplay??

Didn't spot that bit at first, but I noticed the backline of F.U.C. which I thought was heading somewhere that may have caused you some serious trouble with the mods.  

Having the first name initials before the surname may have made a good poser even more difficult to crack.

Edited June 12, 20214 yr by demonstone
spolling

13 minutes ago, Demon_spurs said:

H2O (Water)

Correct!  It's a ripper of a clue I reckon.

46 minutes ago, demonstone said:

Didn't spot that bit at first, but I noticed the backline of F.U.C. which I thought was heading somewhere that may have caused you some serious trouble with the mods.  

Having the first name initials before the surname may have made a good poser even more difficult to crack.

?!

? That's how I originally set it out but the 'Rules of' Cryptics' crept unwelcomely in, so I couldn't then help but put the 'Firsts' actually first. I'd hoped the '30s and '40s feel of the namings might have helped misdirect, as they say in cryptics.

And while we're at it:

DOLPPHINS (3,4,2,1,3)

Sounds like something Dennis Cometti might say.

1 hour ago, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

DOLPPHINS

Two peas in a pod.

Was there a porpoise to this teaser?  

On 6/11/2021 at 11:00 PM, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

Metaphysical poet and Dean of St Paul's, John Donne.

'No man is an island...'

Well done, although you left out "for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee". Nevertheless, full marks.

For anyone who's interested, here's the full work:

For Whom the Bell Tolls by John Donne Next

No man is an island, Entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manor of thine own Or of thine friend's were. Each man's death diminishes me, For I am involved in mankind. Therefore, send not to know For whom the bell tolls, It tolls for thee.

21 hours ago, demonstone said:

Two peas in a pod.

Was there a porpoise to this teaser?  

Whale, maybe...

Thanks LDC (yours has always struck me as one of the more erudite tags - Commedia dell'arte-like). I thought about Peter Bell and 'For whom...[one]...tolls' but thought that might have been Shakespeare (so much is!) and moved on. I'm sure the 1971 HSC assessors would have jumped at the chance to shave my full marks for the shortfall!

Now, reminding myself this is actually a football forum, Melbourne by 36. Go Dees!

2 hours ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Well done, although you left out "for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee". Nevertheless, full marks.

For anyone who's interested, here's the full work:

For Whom the Bell Tolls by John Donne Next

No man is an island, Entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manor of thine own Or of thine friend's were. Each man's death diminishes me, For I am involved in mankind. Therefore, send not to know For whom the bell tolls, It tolls for thee.

Oops, I forgot to do the quote thingy in my post for you above, LDC

On 6/10/2021 at 4:43 PM, demonstone said:

It's lockdown and you can tell that I'm quite bored and have way too much time on my hands.

Below is a team, listed in position from the backline.  Some of the names will be familiar, others less so but all played VFL/AFL.

Your task is to find the common link.

 

B:  John James  Chad Morrison   Majak Daw

H/B:  Alex Keath   Ted Richards   Neville Stone

C:  Jason Gram   Michael Parsons   Craig Bird

H/F:  Farren Ray   Rick Davies   Rene Kink

F:  Lachie Neale   George Young   Gary Cowton

R:  Chris Bryan   Chris Connolly   Eric Sweet

 

 Have at it Demon fans!  

Surely you could fit Brian Wilson in there.

2 hours ago, Ugottobekidding said:

Surely you could fit Brian Wilson in there.

How?

18 hours ago, demonstone said:

How?

Injury sub

On 6/12/2021 at 10:54 AM, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

You got my juices going, too, Demonstone (and you other 'setters).

We have Frank 'Checker' Hughes to thank* for this team's Firsts spell...

F         FANNING F.   USHER R.   CORDNER T.

HF      HEYWOOD D.   SMITH N.   IRWIN R.

C         ANDERSON S.   SPENCER S.   BARASSI R. Snr

HB       EMSELLE R. CORDNER D.   ARNOLD L.

B         McMAHEN N.   EDGE B.   DOWSING R.

Foll     ELLIS N.   McGRATH S.   O'KEEFE J.

19th/20th            NIVEN C.   SPITTLE M.

(*Thanks to Demonwiki, too)

Reminds me of Arnold Schwarzenegger's:

 

He denies it was deliberate, but he was a politician at this stage, so like all AFL coaches, I'm not sure you can believe what he said.