1. Sherman Bastable is the long-suffering tutor of the insufferable Horace. (Bill the Conqueror, Chapter 12)

2. Rupert Baxter has been appointed tutor to Lord Emsworth's grandson George, though he changes his mind after a few encounters with an air-gun. ("The Crime Wave at Blandings", Lord Emsworth and Others)

3. Bingo Little has taken on the dangerous job of tutor to young Thos. ("Jeeves and the Impending Doom", Very Good, Jeeves)

4. Ashe Marson is the former tutor; the ex-governess is Joan Valentine. (Something Fresh, US title Something New, Chapter 1)

Extra Credit #1: Ukridge wants Corky to recommend him to Horace Wanklyn, his prospective employer. ("A Tithe for Charity", A Few Quick Ones, UK edition)

Extra Credit #2: The tutor sacked in a telegram is Reginald Broster. (The Little Nugget, Chapter 1. Mr Broster is probably fortunate to be sacked, since his former charge is Ogden Ford, who boasts of having had "about ten million" tutors.)

Round 282 - 8 August 2006

1. The vet is Jill Wyvern. (Ring for Jeeves, US title The Return of Jeeves, Chapter 3)

2. Webster, the "feline plug-ugly," undergoes a vet's care in "Cats Will Be Cats" (Mulliner Nights).

3. The vet is JG Banks and his patient is Empress of Blandings, who has caused Lord Emsworth alarm and despondency by not eating a potato. (A Pelican at Blandings, US title No Nudes Is Good Nudes, Chapter 7)

4. Stiffy Byng's dog Bartholemew has bitten Gussie Fink-Nottle and she fears for her dog's health (much as Lord Emsworth, when the Empress bit the odious Huxley Winkworth, "telephoned the vet to ask if there was any danger of infection to the Empress"). (Stiff Upper Lip Jeeves, Chapter 15)

5. Pongo Twistleton, on one of his pleasant and instructive afternoons with his Uncle Fred, is forced to pose as a vet. ("Uncle Fred Flits By", Young Men in Spats)

Round 283 - 16 August 2006

1. A is John Shoesmith; B is Jeff Miller. (Money in the Bank, Chapter 1)

2. Solicitor E is Cyril Bunting, Lord Tilbury's solicitor; C is Jerry Shoesmith, nephew of solicitor John Shoesmith; D is Lord Tilbury. (Frozen Assets, US title Biffen's Millions, Chapter 9)

3. Freddie Widgeon's cousin George (F), a policeman, has a somewhat low opinion of solicitors as well as detectives. F is Sally Foster, and G, who has misplaced her husband, is Leila Yorke. Freddie (like Joe Pickering of Bachelors Anonymous) works for Shoesmith, Shoesmith, Shoesmith, and Shoesmith of Lincoln's Inn Fields, since his "foul Uncle Rodney bunged me into the firm". (Ice in the Bedroom, Chapter 13)

4. This solicitor is JG Wetherby, the "gentlemanly boa-constrictor". (If I Were You, Chapters 21-22)

Extra Credit: K is Lord Emsworth, who once narrowly escaped arrest for picking the flowers in Hyde Park. (Service with a Smile, Chapter 1)

Round 284 - 25 August 2006

1. G D'Arcy (Stilton) Cheesewright is the policeman accosting the "bloodstained Wooster". (Joy in the Morning, Chapter 8)

2. Cyril McMurdo is the fearless policeman in love with the formidable Nannie Bruce, as discussed by Lord Ickenham and Johnnie Pearce. (Cocktail Time, Chapter 8)

3. Jerry Vail is the involuntary renter of a villa with an unadvertised occupant: Queen of Matchingham, Sir Gregory Parsloe's pig. (Pigs Have Wings, Chapter 9)

4. Officer Garroway, the stark and poignant policeman-poet, finds Frederick Mullett's face strangely familiar. (The Small Bachelor, Chapter 1)

5. Florence Cray is the platinum-haired girl chased by a policeman, as discussed by Stilton Cheesewright and Bertie Wooster, alias Ephraim Gadsby of The Nasturtiums, Jubilee Road, Streatham Common. (Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit, US title Bertie Wooster Sees It Through, Chapter 7)

Extra Credit: Monty Bodkin falls in love with Alexandra Miller after the latter smites Police Constable Chisholm with a dustbin. (Pearls, Girls, and Monty Bodkin, US title The Plot That Thickened, Chapter 7)

Round 285 - 2 September 2006

1. Ex-magistrate Sir Watkyn Bassett (A) has changed his attitude toward the world and specifically toward narrator Bertram Wooster (B) in Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves ch. 16.

2. Resembling the spectacled thundercloud is Baxter (C), who mentioned his immediate plans to seek out Lady Constance (D), throwing Lord Emsworth (E) into a panic of conciliation in The Crime Wave at Blandings.

3. Gladys Whittaker (F) looks to the soliloquizing Barmy Fotheringay-Phipps (G) disturbingly auntlike in Barmy in Wonderland, ch. 12.

4. In ch. 2 of The Mating Season Claude Cattermole Pirbright is low-spirited and unlike his usual self as known to and described by Pongo Twistleton (J) and Barmy Phipps (K).

Extra credit: they all resemble balloons of some sort, usually captive.

Round 286 - 11 September 2006

1. The tennis fanatic is Bingo Little (B), in an afternoon at Bertie's Aunt Agatha's (A). ["Jeeves and the Impending Doom"].

2. Ambrose Gussett (C) is not swayed by the knowledge that Miss Evangeline Tewkesbury (D) is a tennis player. ["Up From the Depths", from Nothing Serious].

3. Austin Phelps (E) has made a hit that is bad news for Sam Bagshott (F) and Sandy Callender (G) [Galahad at Blandings, ch. 11].

4. Ambrose Gussett (now J) again, with his Evangeline (K). Dwight Messmore (L) is judging AG's tennis progress. ["Up From the Depths", from Nothing Serious]. (Yes, there were two excerpts from the same story. We fail to see that you have any legal recourse.)

5. Algernon Crufts (M) reproaches Bobbie Wickham (N) for forgetting her racquet, but she is driving Clifford Gandle (O) to Hertford ["Mr Potter Takes a Rest Cure"].

Extra credit: George Murgatroyd in"“Prospects for Wambledon”" from Louder and Funnier.

Round 287 - 19 September 2006

1. Superintending the packing of the picnic basket was young Bingo Little (A), describing the menu to Bertie Wooster (B) ["Jeeves and the Old School Chum", from Very Good, Jeeves].

2. C is Mr (Soapy) Molloy, E his wife Dolly and D their friend and colleague Chimp Twist. [Sam the Sudden/Sam in the Suburbs]. I saw no particular reason for Soapy's suddenly bringing lobsters into the discussion but evidently that was slang for a "dupe". Fr Rob Bovendeaard found a definition in the well-known reference work that should be on every shelf: A Dictionary of the Underworld, British and American, being the Vocabularies of Crooks, Criminals, Racketeers, Beggars and Tramps, Convicts, The Commercial Underworld, The Drug Traffic, The White Slave Traffic, Spivs, by Eric Partridge (London, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, 3rd edition 1971). For "lobster", he reports that it gives two meanings: "a soldier" (slang, though much used by convicts in Australia in the convict days), and "a dupe; slow[-witted] person". For the latter meaning, the dictionary refers to a book (or an article) called "Life in Sing Sing" (1904), so Soapy was speaking in his native dialect.

3. Poor Thomas Portarlington Travers (F) suffers the after-effects from luncheon with Sir Watkyn Bassett (G). [The Code of the Woosters].

4. In the short story "A Slice of Life'" Miss Postlethwaite, (J) is describing the film at the Bijou Dream featuring Vera Dalrymple and Jack Frobisher, (K and L, resp.).

5. Ashe Marson (N) is reading to Mr J Preston Peters (M) in Something Fresh/New.

6. Wilhelmina Shannon (Q) and her sister Adela (P) are discussing Jacob Glutz (R) of Medulla-Oblongata-Glutz [The Old Reliable].

Round 288 - 26 September 2006

1. A is for Archie Moffam (The Indiscretions of Archie, Chapter 10).

2. Stanley F Ukridge does decide to purchase the deaf cove's dog in the short story "The Level Business Head".

3. Jane Martyn (C) and Bill Hardy (D) discuss Jane's brother Algy (B) in Company for Henry (UK)/The Purloined Paperweight (US), Chapter 6.

4. Bingo Little (E) fortunately fails to get his message across in the short story "All's Well with Bingo".

5. Harold Pickering and Troon (Marion in some editions) Rockett in the short story "Scratch Man".

6. F is good old Fred, a friend of the narrator's since his (the narrator's) early puppyhood. ["The Mixer" in The Man with Two Left Feet]

Bonus point. Sir Gregory (Tubby) Parsloe-Parsloe and former barmaid Maudie Montrose (later Stubbs) missed each other by 3 days, either because he wrote 4s that looked like 7s (as she claimed) or because she was "cockeyed" (his version). They discovered the fact 10 years later in Pigs Have Wings.

Augustus Robb and the cook Alice Punter missed each other when she went to the Meek Street registry office while he thought the ceremony would be at Beak Street. They sort it out at the end of Spring Fever.

In Service with a Smile Bill Bailey went to the Milton Street registry office to meet Myra Schoonmaker, who was waiting for him at the time at the r.o. in Wilton Street.

Round 289 - 4 October 2006

1. Bertie Wooster (B) is seeking revenge against Tuppy Glossop (A) by puncturing the latter's hot-water bottle ["Jeeves and the Yule-Tide Spirit", from Very Good, Jeeves].

2. Lord Ickenham urges his nephew Pongo Twistleton (C) not to follow the example of their ancestor Sir Gervase Twistleton (D) [Uncle Dynamite, ch. 9].

3. This is Cyril "Barmy" Fotheringay-Phipps (E) kissing Dinty Moore (F) [Barmy in Wonderland, ch. 18].

4. Here we have Lord Emsworth (G) and his niece Jane talking about George Abercrombie (J), whose ancestors (K) did well at the crusades. The Aunt is, of course, Lady Constance (H) ["The Crime Wave at Blandings", from Lord Emsworth and Others].

5. Freddie Widgeon (L), in love with April Carroway (N), tries to discourage Captain Bradbury (O) with an anecdote about his bout with Bulldog Whacker (M) ["Trouble Down at Tudsleigh", from Young Men in Spats].

Extra credit: Monty Bodkin's ancestor Sieur Pharamond de Bodkyn [The Luck of the Bodkins, ch. 12].

Round 290 - 13 October 2006

1. Tipton Plimsoll (C) assures the Hon. Frederick Threepwood (A) that he will be going to Blandings Castle (B) after all [Full Moon, ch. 3].

2. Here we have Dr Sally Smith (D) and Bill Bannister (E), sharing the same interest in milk bacteria [Doctor Sally, ch. 16].

3. Lord Tilbury (F) needs the help of his solicitor Mr Bunting (G) – and also of Percy Pilbeam (J) – to do Biff Christopher (H) out of his inheritance from Lord Tilbury's brother [Frozen Assets, ch. 9].

4. Lord Shortlands (L) is not enjoying his birthday very much, owing to the activities of his daughters Lady Clare Cobbold (K), Lady Adela Topping (M), and butler Mervyn Spink (N) [Spring Fever, ch. 3].

5. Hermione Brimble (O), Oswald Stoker (P), Mrs Gudgeon (S) and the butler Staniforth (Q) are discussing Augustus Mulliner's (R) recent egg-throwing activities ["The Right Approach", from A Few Quick Ones].