SPECTATOR TWIN-TOWN TREASURE HUNT

he first three winners of the eight-week Spectator Twin-Town Treasure Hunt will receive outstanding prizes.

The first prize has been presented by Framlington. It is 2,000 units in Framlington Monthly Income Fund. At the current offer price of 120.6p, these are worth £2,412. The unit price was up 41 per cent last year. This unit trust also Offers a monthly income, paid straight into your bank.

The second prize is a weekend break in Madrid for two, flying from Heathrow, Gatwick or Manchester by Iberia Air Lines and staying within walking distance of the Retiro Park, at the four-star Hotel Velazquez. The prize includes £100 spending money. For a brochure describing the prize and many other holidays arranged by Mundi Color, the specialists in visits to Spain for discerning travellers, telephone 01-834-3492.

The third prize is a case of 1979 Louis Roederer champagne donated by El Vino Co Ltd.

Students will have an extra chance to win a special prize of a choice of ten records or cassettes from the Editions E. G catalogue. There will also be many other prizes, including wine and books by Spectator writers.

How to take part

In each '-sue of the Spectator from 7 February to 21 March, competitors were asked to identify two British place-names, (a) and (b); these may include boroughs of London or old Villages now absorbed into it. This week, the last 'ue enables you to decode the answer from the place-names You have collected. As usual, bonus marks will be given for identifying quotations and briefly explaining allusions; but it will be possible to crack the code and reach the final answer without getting all the references. Good luck!

To win you must send in an answer form from each week of the competition with your final solution. Back numbers are available from the Spectator at £1.35, including postage. The closing date for entries is 18 April. No entries will be Opened till then. If several correct and complete answers are received the winner will be decided by lot. The final arbiter is the editor of the Spectator. The competition is not Open to employees of the Spectator or their relatives. Important: Please keep the answer form, as you will need to send it in with the previous forms. If you need more space, You may write your answers on plain paper.

Final clue

For this last week, you will only need to find one place-name. The second half of the clue will be a rhyme to help you decode the final answer.

a) The place — that is the name of the hotel where Nancy was murdered by the drug-crazed lover who used to stub out cigarettes upon his bare arm.

— where the dying rector was visited by his son, 'Parson Lot', whose most famous book was suggested by lichen stains like small sooty footmarks down the cliff at Malham Cove.

— where the poet-laureate who died of an overdose of opium was buried: if he 'had burned all he wrote, and printed all he spoke, he would have had more wit and humour than any other poet'.

Though my aptitude for verse has been getting worse and worse I append a little poem to guide you through my wiles: But where my metre loose is, accept of my excuses, For doggerels so limping need helping over styles!

There were pairs to find en route (and a singleton to boot)

Yet the seven places 'twinned' were alike as chalk and cheese; Though the place-names came in twos, with double-barrelled clues, They didn't seem to offer Tweedledums and Tweedledees.

But yoking them in tandem was not performed at random: Count the letters as you go, and you'll find in every brace The twins are Siamese, for in couples such as these One letter in each duo is identical in place.

Yet even when you know it, the code is still inchoate; Seven letters Lre divulged, but they don't make up a word: They represent no argot — are a jumble or farrago — Remaining enigmatic — nonsensical — absurd!

But before you rage and curse take your eight (our Clio's first): Your solitary answer is with seven letters writ, So, reckoning 'A' as one — for 'tis commonly thus done — (And your 'Z' is twenty-six, for I stoop to no low tricks!) Count forward to their value from the seven you have hit: These seven small adjustments make the final answer fit!

Not just a conurbation, but a hero of our nation You'll find is represented in the name that you have traced: As the poet erstwhile sang, it in arms through Europe rang, But echoes now — ten-fold — further 'cross the wat'ry waste. But on our home terrain, it's a good old English name Adopted by some characters of well-known fictive fame: There's piano-playing Jane — and Gwendolen's the same (Who travelled with her diary to amuse her on the train) And a Colonel in the Yeomen. . . but chiefly we acclaim The hard-pressed scribbler's champion — the hero of our game!

Answer form — 8 a) b) Name Address