YABA4 - clue 4- solution

Hint

Beginners and Regular Division

Think homonyms, not exact words. How do you say "bad wine" in Italian?

Masters Division

Think homonyms, not exact words. Ninth picture is Paul Anka.

Solution

Beginners

MEAT

+ MGM - MG = M

+ BAT - B = AT

+ CA + FRAME - R = CAFFE M

+ AL + T.V. - TEA + SANTANA - SANTA = AL VEE NA

=

"Meet M at Caffe Malvina"

The title, "Sounds Like Sour Grapes?" referred to the Spanish or Italian translation of the café's name - mal (bad) and vina (wine/grape vines).

Regular

MINI ME - MINI = ME

+ BEET - BE = T

+ MGM - MG = M

+ BASKET - BASQUE = ET (AT)

+ CA + FRAME - R = CAFFE M

+ AL + TV - TEA + SANTANA - SANTA = AL VEE NA

=

"Meet M at Caffe Malvina"

Masters

MINI ME - MINI = ME

+ BEET - BEE = T

+ MGM - MG = M

+ BASKET - BASQUE = ET (AT)

+ ANKA - ANN + FRAME - R = CAFFE M

+ AL + TV - TEA + SANTANA - SANTA = AL VEE NA

=

"Meet M at Caffe Malvina"

Many Masters teams had trouble identifying Paul Anka.

A number of teams in all divisions did not understand the Bond reference to "M", Agent 007's controller at MI-6. "Brush up on your Bond!" is all we can say!

Caffe Malvina is located at 1600 Stockton Street. At the clue hub, Alexandra's British friend Vera Winston played "M", handing out the next set of clues and offering teams a chance to look at the book "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" to find the license plate on page 18 that was the plate marking this site (GEN II).  She had five copies of the book with her, to help expedite the process.

Those who had solved the pre-game hint knew exactly where to look in the book (and if they'd gone to the effort to locate a copy, they knew there was a reference to a license plate on that page).

However, it was early in the game, and the cafe was packed with teams arriving grouped closely together. Vera/M needed to dispatch teams quickly, so she began to pass out extra copies of the book and even point out the page number to teams.

As mentioned in the discussion of the related pre-game hint, we realize this was less than fair for those teams who actually solved the pre-game hint.