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Like the Tube Map, the Periodic Table is an endlessly fascinating thing. Over the years, the format has been adapted to all kinds of schemes. We thought it was about time someone tried to make sense of London in this way. Can you work out the identity of each London 'element'? Can you spot hidden patterns and trends? Can you suggest improvements?
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I can spot a few radio stations in grey
Is Es = Evening Standard? Then grey is london media.
TO - Time Out
M - Metro
CAM - ?
BBC - BBC London
LBC, Capital, XFM, Resonance FM,
and at the end there:
Lit - Litro
SM - Smoke London
OeG - One Eye Grey
Yeah, I guessed it was London media, with BBC being in there...
Then there's Boris and Ken on the left... man, this is oddly addictive!
London waterways = Noble gases, perhaps? (I think that's where they go... it's been a while since school) T=Thames, F=Fleet, Wd=Wandle...
Yup, there's a media thing going on in the light greys, and the final column is indeed London waterways, of which you've got three. There's still so much to work out, though...
Well if the blue are Waterways, I'd guess: the Q is for Quaggy; and Tyburn.
Orange, left handside: is that the buildings in 'Oranges & Lemons'?
Stc: St Clements, Stm: St Martins, OB: Old Baily and so on.
Yep - the others are Shoreditch, Stepney (though in my version of the rhyme it's Old Stepney) and of course Bow.
think it's just Stepney not Old Stepney
"Oranges and lemons" say the Bells of St. Clement's
"You owe me five farthings" say the Bells of St. Martin's
"When will you pay me?" say the Bells of Old Bailey
"When I grow rich" say the Bells of Shoreditch
"When will that be?" say the Bells of Stepney
"I do not know" say the Great Bells of Bow
"Here comes a Candle to light you to Bed
Here comes a Chopper to Chop off your Head
Oh! The first column is all the Mayoral candidates from last year, coloured by their party! Boris and Ken, Brian Paddick, Sian Berry, Richard Barnbrook, Alan Craig, Gerard Batten. In the order they finished?
This is fun! I'm thinking first left top row in the media section is Londonist, surely?!
Damn, just re-read your comment M@, guess it's not Londonist then!
No, I think you're onto something... Londonist, Diamond Geezer, Annie Mole, [DH], Greenwich Phantom...
Ian Visits!
Bob from Brockley? (though technically Bfb so maybe not?)
Blackheath Bugle?
I got this lower down: Tp is transpontine?
Onion Bag Blog? Jane's London?
Dh - Dave Hill *slaps forehead in idiocy* And I'm wondering if Usf is Urban 75?
Yellow: London parishes?
Is dark grey blogs: LO: Londonist, Iv: Ian Visits, Tp: Transpontine and more?
4th column from right looks like parks & greens? Royal Parks Maybe?
Hyde Park, Regents Park, Kensington Gardens, Green Park, Richmond Park, Battersea Park
By the wonder of facebook, Ra in waterways is Ravensbourne.
I don't think anyone has mentioned this, but the L under waterways must be the Lea, right? (Something I learned all about from reading element Dg.)
Run away. Run Awaaaaaayyyyyy. The engines cannae take it Captain. It's sucking us in... oh. crap. Curioulsy addictive is NOT the word. Brain fryingly addictive. I hate you Londonist. Or, at lease, my employers do.,
Good work, all. But still no one's cracked the transition metals, or the reason for the diagonal, and three quarters of the elements remain a mystery...
Diagonal - not given this much thought, but north of the river / south of the river?
Ok so Green Park is actually Greenwich Park and the diagonal is the North South divide?
I thought I was on a hospitals diagonal, starting at 12 and going right down - St Barts, Tommys, Whittington but then I got stuck.
Londonist, Diamond Geezer, Dave Hill, x Ian Visits, x, x, Big Smoke Blog, x, x, x, Twitter.com/LDN, x
You guys are way better than me. I'm away back to work...
If the diagonal is indeed north-south, perhaps the elements there are boroughs? I can see Cr (Croydon), Br (Bromley) and Ww (Wandsworth) in group 4. But then my theory seems to fall down.
I was pondering Barnet, Ealing, Lewisham, but I have no idea why those would be picked as opposed to any others. Unless there's something we're missing. Or it's not boroughs at all. Or they were picked at random.
Damn you Matt, it's sodding midnight!
I only have nine elements left to get! Hint: NC isn't Nelsons Column ;)
The penultimate column (sticking with the north/south divide) looks like Heron Tower, Tower 42, Gherkin, Centre Point, BT Tower, Shard of Glass.
OK - I'm stuck. I've got all the connections, but am really stumped on most of the yellow row starting JC. Am only missing those, three of the other yellow blocks and Og (which should be easy as I've got the rest of the column: hint: What could "MD" and "LE" be south of the river?)
Wooo! Got one more. Getting tortuous now though.
To be fair, the row beginning with JC is the most contrived and difficult. My advice would be to focus on the right hand elements to get the overall theme here.
I've got GE and FB and I think BF and CG (less sure about CG, but suspect it's obvious?). Have two thoughts for FF, one is too contrived I suspect, and the other doesn't match vertically! :)
there are two 'f's and two 'g's in this row - does that make them 'fields' and 'gardens' or am I way off ?
Not way off at all. G is right, F isn't fields, but both the lower case "f"s do stand for the same word.
Incidentally, are the transition metals stuff that's within the Circle Line? You know, with them being yellow.
Nope.
Then they are London landmarks made of custard.
I've admitted defeat, but for those still working it out, my tip would be not to ignore the numbers 11-20 along the top of the yellow block.
Centuries. The top row is churches, and the numbers relate to the centuries the current buildings went up. St Bartholemew the Great, Westminster Abbey, St Paul's.
No idea whether the same explanation relates to the other rows - but then, I am at work...
Well, not just churches, but yes, centuries. If you look at StP and Gl and then go down that column you might spot some more elements/connections
OK that makes the verticals easy, but still can't see most of the yellow horizontal connections
Matt, your brain scares me...
Correction: In the first orange/beige column, I've changed Og to Rog, after receiving good feedback from WHampstead.
Royal Observatory Greenwich?
M@ this is somewhere between brilliant and scary. I think you've invented the new Sudoku because presumably this formula can be used for any number of puzzle topics ...
Patent it, quick !
Johnny
Cheers Johnny. I think. But the basic premise has been done a hundred times before. I've just never seen it adapted to London.
So will there be an answer key at some point? I was stumped on most of this days ago.
Maybe. But I think I'll leave it a little bit longer...
I can't figure out the second row of yellows.. thinking Great Exhibition for Ge and Festival of Britain for Fb, but considering the last row's theme, that seems not to fit. Anyone worked out the theme for the second row?
You're heading in exactly the right direction. As M@ said earlier, this is the hardest one. I would say that getting FF and BF will confirm your thoughts. The other ones don't fit the theme quite as well. (or at all!)
Hint: MP isn't London-specific, HC CG RG are all well-known but don't fit the theme. Not sure whether Tom shouldn't be Rm (if that helps).
How are you doing with the bottom row of yellow?
In that case, they're all 'public events' with Bf being Bartholomew Fair and Ff being the Frost Fair when the Thames was frozen over - also I think they're related to the numbers above as centuries for when each began, hence 20 above Fb (Festival of Britain) and 19 for Ge (Great Exhibition).
I think I have the bottom row of yellow, although I couldn't work out Pp.
The third row of yellow also, would Ec be Edmund of Cornwall? He doesn't seem important enough to me..
No, I couldn't get Pp either. It's not something that you would necessarily associate with London particularly although London was home to the first of its kind in England. I think Ec is slightly cryptic - or at least my answer wasn't Edmund of Cornwall! My answer for Ec is derived from Wa above it.
Over on Urban 75 I think we have pretty much got the whole thing licked! Including Pp and Ec!!
To give you a clue for Pp and Ec, Pp could have been Wc in the 3rd row and Ec could be Cc in the top row!!
For those still struggling, I'll post a partial solution tomorrow (spelling out the themes), and then a full solution a few days later.
Did you have a look at our solutions on U75?
I had a quick look, but couldn't find the discussion. Got a link?
http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=307842
Any chance of that solution? I've all but given up. I think I got Pp and Ec as Printing Press and Edward the Confessor (The time matches up with the time his tomb was moved to London) but the public shows stumped me.
It's coming. It's coming. I keep getting distracted. I promise to post a part solution tomorrow.