Codenames 40

[DaveV]

KANGAROO	RULER	WASHER	OLIVE	LUCK
HORSESHOE	LONDON	NAIL	LOCK	LIMOUSINE
CODE	NOTE	INDIA	DOG	LINK
STREAM	CONCERT	PENGUIN	LAP	ROME
POINT	POISON	STAFF	NEW YORK	IRON

[DaveV]

Post-mortem: it looked like the red team was on a path to win in three rounds, so I had to win in two. Sweeping up four words into one clue makes for some admittedly tenuous connections.

Round 1: I'm disappointed that no one thought of the capitals LOCK key on computer keyboards. I considered cluing "Capitals" but thought that lost the NEW YORK connection.

Round 2: Did I mention tenuous connections? Breastfeeding comes with leakage problems, thus WASHER. The team spotted the other three words, although they had plenty of other equally legitimate candidates.

[T-hawk]

SSH wouldn't be a legal clue - the rule is you can use an acronym if it's pronounced as a word (like Laser or Radar), but not if it's by pronouncing the individual letters.

[JR4]

Post mortem:

Game over all of a sudden. I was trying to finish the board in three turns. Gandhi 3 was meant to pick up INDIA (obvious) +, RULER and one of STAFF or OLIVE. It was really tempting to go for four words, but LONDON could easily destroy that plan. 

Capital 4 was a high-risk high-reward kind of play, trying to get the cities plus LOCK. It also made LIMOUSINE an option so it could backfire spectacularly (as it did).  

As the reds correctly called, Farm 3 was indeed meant to steer you away from KANGAROO which was blue. There weren`t any dangerous words brought up in the discussion so if the blues couldn`t finish on the second turn, all could be wrapped up at the third turn as planned. But I actually wasn`t sure how to clue CODE, STREAM and PENGUIN. Any suggestions?

Good game.

[Charriu]

CODE, STREAM, PENGUIN = Linux 3

[El Grillo]

Yeah that’s a tricky set. VTUBER or SUBNAUTICA come to mind, but both have their issues.

[DaveV]

Yeah, when I saw CODE and PENGUIN I immediately thought of Linux.

Edit: well played, JR4. Sorry I didn't say that sooner.

[Tarkeel]

Grillo, did you want to spymaster the next one? If not I'll give it a shot.

[JR4]

Oh well, I had no idea that Linux had a Penguin as a symbol. That would indeed have been the perfect clue. 

Is Vtuber a legal word? Subnautica seems to be an adventure game.

[El Grillo]

I’d like to spymaster round 2.