h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Starting a semi-regular series.

Below is a grid of sixteen words (or short phrases). Your challenge, a la the quiz programme presented by the lovely Vicky Coren, is to sort them out into four groups of four, each one with a common link.

Post with caution! There will be klaxons for any 'phony' groups I've included, and in an incentive to produce individual brilliance, rather than groupthink, I will be scoring as follows:

Providing one group & connection: 2 points
Providing two groups & connections in the same post: 5 points
Providing all four groups & connections in the same post: 10 points

Blanket Google ban applies, of course. Here is your first grid:

LOBCHARDROCKETBLADE
OPENERSHANKWASHERBRUNOST
TILSITNECKWELLINGTONCHEDDAR
BATHPUNCHCASHELLIMBURGER

Cheddar, Wellington, Chard and Bath are all in Somerset

I'll risk a



LIMBURGER - smelly named after the Duchy of Limburg
CASHEL - Irish named after a town
TILSIT - Prussian named after a town
CHEDDAR - named after an English town

Ok, I'll have a crack:

Could we have a football punditry words group?
Lob - chipping the ball in football.
Rocket - hyperbole for a well-hit shot.
Shank - what Leeds players do instead of Rockets.
Opener - The first goal in a football match.

Are opener, punch, blade and rocket to be found on an advanced Swiss army knife?

I'd substitute Brunost for Cheddar in the cheese list (I've already used Cheddar and Brunost is the only other word I don't know).
So:
Brunost, Tilsit, Cashel and Limburger are cheeses.

How about opener, neck, washer and rocket can all have the word bottle in front of them? (not sure about bottle rocket though)

Also, I think Vicky Coren is lovely too. Did you know that she's made $1.2m at Poker?

Bottle:

opener, neck, washer and bath


(a bottle bath is where empty bottles are stored in pubs, until put into crates)

chard and rocket are salad leaves... I'm guessing a couple more are too.

So far i have

Cheddar Wellington Chard Bath all in Somerset
Brunost Tilsit Limburger Cashel all cheeses
Neck Washer Opener Rocket all go with bottle

So that just leaves

Blade Shank Lob and Punch

Blade and Shank are both slang for knives, but are also parts of a golf club I think. Oh... and cuts of lamb.

You can make a bottle rocket, I believe, by pumping it full of air with a bike pump. When the pressure gets too high, the seal should burst and the bottle should shoot off.

Clearly this one is going to be harder to issue points for than I anticipated. There's some closeness yet, but no perfect answer as far as I can tell.

And I first became aware of Vicky via her poker activities. I've been watching that for years...

B

The cheesey group is right but I venture a correction

LIMBURGER - smelly cheese named after the Duchy of Limburg
TILSIT - Prussian cheese named after a town
CHEDDAR - cheese named after an English town

BRUNOST - Norwegian CHEESE....

The original post gets the points though not me

Blow I did not read post 11

You'll have more luck trying to put all four groups together at once rather than one at a time.

B

Ooh, I love Only Connect!!! I'll have a bash.


NECK ROCKET WASHER OPENER

All words that can be preceded by bottle.

I rather like Giles Coren if that's any help.

Blade Shank Lob and Punch

These are all types of golf clubs - specifically wedges with different angles for diferent height of ball trajectory

OK, I think that's as near as we're ever going to get. We have:

LIMBURGER, BRUNOST, CASHEL, TILSIT = Types of cheese
SHANK, LOB, PUNCH, BLADE = Types of golf SHOT (not club)
CHARD, BATH, WELLINGTON, CHEDDAR = Towns in Somerset
NECK, OPENER, ROCKET, WASHER = Preceded by 'bottle'

I will be awarding 7 points to ekky for doing most of the groundwork, and 2 points to loosehead for the final connection.

Minus 2 for Robyn for hitting on a 'fake' connection. Salad leaves were thrown in deliberately to mislead you.

B

Hey, did somebody get the bottle on before me?

Curses, foiled again!