Guessing Post

[holmesticemods]

Thank you so much for another wonderful round of Holmestice! The mods want to say THANK YOU to all the creators who joined us for this round. You put in a lot of hard work and made some really great fanworks.

Reveals and the Master List go up on June 28th. Until then, please enjoy and comment on all the lovely fanworks. Creators, please do NOT respond to Dreamwidth comments or post your fanwork elsewhere on the Internet until reveals go up in the community. (You may of course reply to comments on AO3, which preserves your anonymity.)

But we're not done yet -- treats are coming right up! We'll continue to accept treats right through until reveals, so if there's a prompt for which you want to whip something up, please do! Just send it to holmesticemods@gmail.com using the regular submission guidelines.

If you'd like to guess at who created what in this round, a list of all the contributors -- including treat-makers -- is below the cut. Go ahead and take a guess! It's all in good fun.

ETA: Eeep! The earlier version of the list of creators had some errors, but it should be right now! (We hope!)


a_different_equation
alexcat
ancientreader
angelqueen04
camillo1978
clearinghouse
colebaltblue
discordantwords
dogandmonkeyshow
dryadinthegrove
gardnerhill
graycardinal
ireallyshouldbedrawing
iwantthatcoat
marta_bee
monkiainen
nairobiwonders
nottoolateforthegame
oldshrewsburyian
rachelindeed
sanguinity
sanspatronymic
tazlet
trobadora
valdavermillion
write_out


Go forth and leave love for your fellow Holmestice authors, artists, vidders, and podficcers. See you again on the 28th, when we reveal who made what!

Comments

[write_out]

Thanks to the mods and creators for another excellent round of Holmestice! I've enjoyed all of the gifts very much. It's fun to dip my toes into 'verses I'm not familiar with and to see different sides of our beloved characters.

My only guess so far is ireallyshouldbedrawing for the fantastic art "For Science." Other than that, I have no idea! Good excuse to go back and reread!

[rachelindeed]

Thank you so much to the mods for keeping this exchange going strong! I have a lot of catching up still to do with both reading and reviewing, but I have enjoyed everything so much - thanks to everyone for sharing your beautiful works!

I have SO MANY GUESSES this round, I'm kind of shocked at myself?!? I've been keeping a little list as the entries have been posted, and some of my guesses I feel quite confident about while others are a lot more speculative. But what the heck, I'm going to just throw out a quick and unadorned list of my 'for the record' guesses before SCFrankles arrives to deliver the definitive deductions!

MY GUESSES:

Shut Up and Drive vid = sanguinity

Can't Stay Angry art = clearinghouse (thank you again for such a delightful gift!)

Sweetest Friend...You Stubborn Man art = nairobiwonders

Writeout has already guessed ireallyshouldbedrawing for "For Science" and I 100% agree.

Nee Kitty Winter = ancientreader

The Adventure of the Retired Novelist = gardnerhill

Making a Case = trobadora

Carpe Vinum = WriteOut

In darkness I call your name (and you mine) = a_different_equation

Untold Stories = discordantwords

The Adventure of the Blue Parrot = tazlet

Escapade = graycardinal

Mentor = oldshrewsburyian

The Strange Tale of Charon's Obol = navaan

The Norbury Possibility = angelqueen04

Time Best Spent = alexcat

[graycardinal]

[working steadily away at the Spreadsheet of Doom]

Judging by the initial mass of "possible" tickyboxes, this may end up being a singularly challenging round aside from one or two really obvious deductions.

Meanwhile, just to make things interesting, two truths and a lie:

(1) My contribution is written in first person.
(2) My contribution neither mentions nor features Mycroft.
(3) My contribution is not a crossover.

[holmesticemods]

Our apologies, but the first version of the list of creators had a couple of errors. We've corrected it now (we hope!), but at least one of those errors has squirmed its way into your guesses -- so sorry!

[graycardinal]

Hmm. It looks to me as if that may also affect the Spreadsheet of Doom, which necessarily includes recipients as well as creators. Let me therefore clarify a point: the list as corrected includes only those who've contributed art/fic/podfic to the current round, and may therefore omit individuals who received a gift work from a pinch-hitter.

(Which is to say that at least one of my spreadsheet entries may have agreed with one of rachelindeed's invalidated guesses.)

[holmesticemods]

The corrected list is of contributors, yes, including pinch-hitters, yes, and is current through the two treats that went up today. (Note that the list won't be updated to include authorship of any further treats, should they come in, because that would be giving away Too Much Information.)

:: ...and may therefore omit individuals who received a gift work from a pinch-hitter. ::

No, it's the other way around: it omits people who dropped and were thus replaced by a pinch-hitter. People who received work from a pinch-hitter are generally still on the list. (Because generally speaking, those people all made something themselves.)

Does that clarify things any?

[graycardinal]

[rereads, rechecks lists]

Ah, I see. On one hand, I believe it answers the question I meant to ask; OTOH, I phrased that question badly. You're right; the story I was thinking of need not have been written by a pinch hitter, but it was written for a recipient who fell off the corrected list. True?

[rachelindeed]

Aha! Thank you very much for the corrections. The advantage of guessing early is that I have plenty of time to reconsider! :)

Yes, so that takes navaan off of my guess list. Fair enough, I really only made that guess because they were the only person - besides the gift's recipient trobadora - whose offers focused on Holmes/Moriarty. But there were plenty of people who offered Holmes/Other and it could be any one of them! I will leave it to my more experienced guessing peers to solve that mystery :)

But I'm glad to see dogandmonkeyshow back on the list, since I'd been planning to guess that "One tale in four books" was theirs :)

And I am now in a position to add that I believe sanguinity has also authored my wonderful 7PER fic, "Amanuensis." <3 <3 <3 <3

Guesswork of Doom (Act I)

[graycardinal]

I may actually be getting better at this Spreadsheet of Doom business...but we'll see. The good news is that a sizeable chunk of the work is done; the bad news is that almost none of it appears to have done much good in narrowing the pool on the ACD-canon side of the equation. If the columnar data is to be believed, the half-dozen recipients of ACD stories map virtually exactly onto the half-dozen writers of ACD stories, which seems entirely too tidy to be plausible -- and yet, there it is.

So: herewith guesses for all the non-ACD prose entries plus the podfic. ACD and artwork will be along later....

Vid
Shut Up and Drive: sanguinity

Even if there weren't only one vid offer in the spreadsheet, this one would be ridiculously obvious.

Podfic
Mentor: marta_bee

My problem here is that of the three people who offered podfic, one is this gift's recipient, one has left a comment and kudos over on AO3, and I'm almost certain the third has to have written one of the "Study in Emerald" fics. By extrapolation, that means the podfic is either a double work or a pinch hit, and I choose to guess the latter.

BBC/Sherlock
Carpe Vinum: discordantwords
Lilacs: write_out
One Tale in Four Books: dogandmonkeyshow
Untold Stories: dryadinthegrove

Despite not actually having seen much BBC/Sherlock, I think I'm getting a handle on the writers of such in our little pond. (Also, one of these can be deduced from external data, and that helps sort out the others.)

Elementary
Case of the Missing Detective: magnetic_pole

Study in Emerald
Making a Case: trobadora
Charon's Obol: oldshrewsburyian

This pair of guesses is extrapolated partly from known Moriarty partisanship and partly from reconsideration of signup material.

Enola Holmes
By Any Other Name: marta_bee
Norbury Possibility: angelqueen04

Two Enola Holmes stories, three offers...but gardnerhill is committed elsewhere, and while it's theoretically possible sanguinity wrote one of these in addition to the vid, the overall math says that's unlikely. That says one of these may be a pinch hit. (It also says I may be wrong about the podfic guess, but what can you do?)

Houdini vs. Holmes
Escapade: clearinghouse

To judge from the signups, the likeliest writer of this story is its recipient...except that multiple datapoints make that impossible. This is my next-best guess.

Solar Pons (etc.)
The Retired Novelist: tazlet

I almost assigned this elsewhere, but then I happened to glance back at the signups, and I do believe my estimable creator gave the game away with certain remarks about one of the crossover characters in this delightful romp.

Rathbone films
The Blue Parrot: gardnerhill

Having concluded that gardnerhill didn't write my gift story, this is the only other piece in the round that strikes me as having the particular buckle and swash that we've come to associate with the Queen of Versatility....
[ETA: Except of course that they left the first comment on this story, and I don't think we've gotten that sneaky around here even yet. Must rethink....]

Ritchie films
Time Best Spent: colebaltblue

Instinct drives this guess. Instinct has not always served me well in these endeavors, but there you are.

[dogandmonkeyshow]

I don't read enough fic to feel qualified to hazard a guess for most of the fics I read. I was thinking that perhaps WriteOut had written my gift, Carpe Vinum, as, IIRC, s/he was the only other participant to offer Sally & Greg in their sign-up. Not that genfic matches are that specific, but...

Guess on my gift..Blue Parrot

[(Anonymous)]

At first I thought of Gardnerhill. I'm still new here, and have much to read and learn regarding styles, but it was a previous discussion about a love of history in the comments on Poppies that was sending my mind that way. But then, I was noticing things that made me think the writer had read Nanti Polari and knew a bit of what directions I went there to sort of determine what I might particularly enjoy ( and enjoy I did!), and in reading those comments, I have now decided to go with Rachelindeed..

Re: Guess on my gift..Blue Parrot

[(Anonymous)]

Oh I thought I was logged in when I posted this!
This is Iwantthatcoat

Re: Guess on my gift..Blue Parrot

[iwantthatcoat]

Hahaha Tazlet was watching Casablanca in mid-May
Gotcha.

Re: Guess on my gift..Blue Parrot

[graycardinal]

Tempting, but see above. Possibly they were watching so as to beta....

Re: Guess on my gift..Blue Parrot

[iwantthatcoat]

It did seem a bit careless for this lot.
Deliberate deception? Perhaps.

Re: Guesswork of Doom (Act I)

[dryadinthegrove]

Nope!

Re: Guesswork of Doom (Act I)

[graycardinal]

Oh, good, the pointing and laughing has begun!

No, seriously; as sanguinity has often noted, half the fun of the guessing phase is the byplay as people shoot down each other's theories and attempt to deflect suspicion from themselves. And like Holmes in the Russellverse, I am perfectly happy in the role of occasional comic relief.

(Even if certain people know too much to file guesses as such, I am astonished at the lack of attention given to my earlier clues....)

[rachelindeed]

Such an intriguing clue, it seems a shame not to take another crack at guessing your contribution! So here we go...

My initial guess for you was "Escapade," because the recipient mentioned an interest in pastiche in their sign-up and also because you seemed the most likely to be familiar with such an obscure 'verse. And your clues just barely fit "Escapade" - it's written in first person, it's not a crossover, and there is one brief reference to Mycroft. So my initial guess might still be correct.

But your clues seem a better fit for the fic that was my second-choice guess for you, "By Any Other Name." And, in looking at your sign-ups, I can see that you could very easily have been matched with AngelQueen04 on the basis of Mary Russell and then decided to switch up the 'verse you actually created for (sneaky!!)

So, yes, on reflection I believe it's more likely you are responsible for this lovely Enola and Mycroft fic.

Which leaves the perennial mystery of who the heck went out and found the Holmes vs. Houdini comic for this Holmestice? Bless them, whoever they are! I am firm in committing gardnerhill to your equally obscure Solar Pons fic, so I am going to guess...Iwantthatcoat for "Escapade." They like challenging assignments and said they'd be willing to look up source material for an unfamiliar part of the fandom in order to please their recipient :)

So, my revised guesses:

Escapade = iwantthatcoat

By Any Other Name = graycardinal

Guesswork of Doom (Act II) - Art, Podfic

[graycardinal]

I am deeply dissatisfied with the Spreadsheet of Doom's performance on the artwork in this round. You'd think that with six art offers and a pinch hitter known for art, it wouldn't be hard to sort out the five art pieces in the gallery.

No such luck. Two of the five seem to sort themselves out almost at once, and a good look at the "kudos" lists on AO3 seems to settle two more, but that leaves the fifth stubbornly unattributed...with the only two open spaces on the spreadsheet indicating the two artists I thought most clearly identifiable for other entries!

Ah, well. Here are the four guesses based on what I fondly hope to be some degree of logic:

After A Case: valdavermillion
Astronomical Significance: nairobiwonders
For Science: ireallyshouldbedrawing
Sweetest Friend: camillo1978

And now, the guess based on throwing a bunch of confetti in the air and studying the patterns it forms as it lands on the floor:

Can't Stay Angry: graycardinal

[blinks, rereads confetti]

Gah. That certainly can't be right -- my one brief foray into cartooning, decades back, involved drawing doors with word balloons coming from behind them -- but there are literally no likelier candidates I can justify (I am fairly sure two of my potential artists wrote fic instead, and rachelindeed certainly didn't draw her own gift.

Which brings us, actually, to the one podfic in the round:

Mentor (podfic): rachelindeed

Barring a stealth pod-recorder somewhere in the pool, I think this is a safe prediction.

And this has gone long enough that we'll save the problem of the Blue Parrot for another entry.

[graycardinal]

True but possibly misleading facts:

In my not-at-all-misspent youth I dabbled fairly seriously in minor stage magic, and remain moderately interested in magic and magicians (a couple of college classmates of mine were card-carrying professionals, one of whom became a good friend and is now a well-known stage actor).

I will admit to having read -- and disliked -- Daniel Stashower's Holmes/Houdini novel, The Adventure of the Ectoplasmic Man.

[sanguinity]

How many Holmes-Houdini things are there, anyhow? There are at least two comics, I know.

On second thought, don't answer that! You have more guesses to make. :-D

Re: Guesswork of Doom (Act I)

[sanguinity]

Oh, the delighted laughter has been going on throughout! But I have been determinedly sitting on my hands to keep from replying to your hints and guesses, because sadly, every reply I've wanted to make is a spoiler. But do please know that I am highly entertained. :-D

[scfrankles]

Sorry I’m late to the party. I’ve been spending a lot of time recently making use of my Poor-But-Honest Shopgirl persona and unfortunately I’m now so deep undercover I had to help with the stock-take.

Anyway, here’s my first batch of guesses.

*flips open notebook*

Let us begin with The Curious Case of Rachelindeed. Ah, Rachel, Rachel, Rachel… I could point out that a particular fic is pretty much perfect for you and yet you have not left kudos or commented on it, nor have you recced it on Tumblr. I could point out it involves a favourite canon story of yours and a favourite character, Mycroft. I could add that the fic contains your trademark fresh ideas and rethinking of canon. However, on first reading I didn’t even need to get that far to identify it as yours, as the notes on AO3 began: Thank you for everything you do, colebaltblue, we’re so lucky to have you as a moderator for this exchange! If you want to hide your identity, madam, you’re going to have to get to work on curbing those good manners and generosity of spirit.

I think The Better Part of Valour is by rachelindeed.


The Adventure of the Retired Novelist: The Simply Unacceptable Version: This was a perhaps surprisingly easy one. Last Holmestice I got rather carried away and analysed one author’s formatting to a somewhat thorough degree. That author often used the distinctive pattern “word, double hyphen, space, word” and was fond of ellipses. In this fic, I have to admit we don’t see the pattern “word, double hyphen, space, word”. However, we do see the pattern “word, em dash, space, word” twelve times, and there are thirty-two ellipses. Also the writer has replied to comments. This always gives an investigator an advantage - the skilled writer can remove their personality entirely from a fic but they tend to be consistently the same person in headers, notes and comments. One last thing is that the use of brief chapters to break up a relatively short fic reminds me of a particular author’s fic As Romeo to Juliet.

I think The Adventure of the Retired Novelist is by iwantthatcoat.


In Heaven and Earth: Well, firstly this was presumably written by a non-Briton and probably an American. There’s ‘savored’, ‘humor’, ‘theater’, ‘a three-hundred-pound accounts clerk’, Watson refers to Cardiff’s ‘northern weather’ but Cardiff is down the other end of Britain and lies to the west of London, Mrs. Hudson’s brother is called ‘Augie’ rather than ‘Gus’. Also, this is an ACD fic but I counted quite a few nods to the Sherlock fandom, so I assume this is someone who sees Sherlock as their main Holmesian fandom. The author is, obviously, a Doctor Who fan. There are endnotes. The quality of the writing is high, and there is that extra touch of erudition of using Latin in the fic. Putting all that information together, I think this is a pinch-hit by marta_bee.


Making a Case: As this is a Holmes & Moriarty fic, and the recipient didn’t specifically ask for that pairing, it naturally immediately narrows the field to a particular couple of suspects--one of whom we now know has dropped out. But as back-up evidence, I recently noticed one of those two authors has one distinctive piece of formatting--they put a space after a word before adding an ellipsis. There is only one ellipsis in this fic but there is a space in front of it. I am pretty confident this work is by trobadora.


Podfic for Mentor: As thesoulofdiscretion/clearinghouse says in the comments, Though possibly that beta-listener should be REDACTED? Indeed the author probably should have asked for it to be redacted because a quick look at AO3 and it’s immediately apparent that gentle_herald is friends and literary colleagues with... oldshrewsburyian.


The Green-Eyed Detective: I noticed a little bit of unusual formatting in this. After a word or phrase in italics, the author leaves a space before adding any punctuation after it. They also use a single hyphen rather than an em dash. And this is an ACD fic but I assumed they saw Sherlock as their major Holmesian fandom because in the AO3 tags they have ‘Jealous Sherlock’ rather than ‘Jealous Holmes’. I had a couple of writers in mind and when I checked the AO3 fics for the first I immediately got a match for the formatting. I believe the author to be nottoolateforthegame.


Escapade: An author quickly came to mind for this fic. It’s a really unusual ‘verse. It’s written by a highly skilled writer. Some words are underlined for emphasis, which always makes me think of one particular writer. And this author hasn’t commented, even though this is an excellent fic and she tends to always be supportive with commenting during the exchange. I think this is by gardnerhill.

[bag_of_onions]

Wow, these deductions are very impressive and interesting to read. This is definitely very fitting to the Sherlock theme. It's certainly more than I can do. I gave this game a try for two hours, came up with only a handful of deductions, and then promptly gave up.

In any case, I really enjoyed this round of holmestice. It's amazing how many great stories and pieces of art come of out this. Making gifts, reading others' gifts, and leaving comments is a lot of fun. Thank you so much to ireallyshouldbedrawing for your very lovely gift for me!

If it helps anyone, I did one pinch hit.

[rachelindeed]

Ha ha, the master deducer has arrived!! *cheers!* Thank goodness you were able to slip away from your persona as a mild-mannered reporter - er, a poor but honest shop girl, that is - and swoop in to solve the trickiest mysteries!

Regarding your guess about my own work - as well as graycardinal's guess - I naturally cannot comment. But I am as amused and impressed as ever to see the forensic analysis you have conducted on various authors' formatting. One of these rounds some ambitious contributor will have to pull a "Reigate Squires" feint and try to elude you by calling in a partner and writing alternate words throughout their story!

Well, presuming that your deductions are correct, I'm pleased that it looks like so far I only mixed up two authors - you have swapped the stories that I had assigned to gardnerhill and iwantthatcoat. To be honest, I'm still proud to have come that close to those two chameleons!

I look forward with great anticipation to seeing the rest of your roster :) In particular, where is sanspatronymic?? It's bothering me that I haven't figured that out...