L22 Hand

Question 1

手

Answer 1

HAND // a hand that’s horribly mutilated, malformed, and has scuttled away from its owner

Question 2

看

Answer 2

LOOK AT // scuttling hand looks at its environment with its hand, like braile, replacing eyes.

Question 3

摩

Answer 3

RUB // hemp (cave in woods) + hand = hemp hand cream. Rub over the scuttling hands, returns it to its natural, calm form.

Question 4

抱

Answer 4

EMBRACE // Villain’s fingers, those of count dracula himself, wrapped around Jonathan Harker’s hand in a welcoming embrace. ‘Brace’ being the key part of that phrase.

Question 5

抗

Answer 5

COMBAT // they wouldn’t fight on their own, but fingers - put into a whirlwind machine - make brilliant slo-mo combat fighters

Question 6

批

Answer 6

CRITICISE // how did english army criticise the French? All they did was compare fingers. The french broke down in tears.

Question 7

招

Answer 7

BECKON // Cruella deville summons minions with her spindly fingers - she beckons them to her

Question 8

打

Answer 8

STRIKE // A new bowling attachment, put this spike on your spindly finger and prepare for a strike.

Question 9

指

Answer 9

> > FINGER // Finger + purpose. A prop from a thriller movie, this finger (and its print) has a clear purpose: to get the holder through a security door. The holder has to bear this purpose in mind - he has the finger, he has the power.

Question 10

拿

Answer 10

HOLD // Scuttling Stu meets scuttling Susan (they weren’t so repulsive after all). Their spindly hands fit together. It’s such a perfect fit, that they hold each other tight from then on.

Question 11

我

Answer 11

I // Do you give yourself a hand fiesta? (“Oh come off it, of course you do.”

Question 12

持

Answer 12

SUPPORT // A Buddhist parable, the temple was about to collapse. With no machinery, the monks asked local people to each lend a finger. Thus, they supported the wall.

Question 13

担

Answer 13

ASSUME // Kids TV show. Presenter lays to bed at night human, but come daybreak their fingers must assume the guise of tiny puppets - they’ve assumed their vital role.

Question 14

括

Answer 14

INCLUDE // The ladies man thought himself an ‘inclusive’ character. He used both his fingers and his tongue, including many ladies in the act.

Question 15

提

Answer 15

BRING UP // For the whole meeting, the councillors sat there skirting around the fact. Then one stuck up her finger ‘is nobody going to bring up the fact that there IS an elephant in the room?’ Using a raised finger to bring up the truth.

Question 16

挥

Answer 16

BRANDISH // Brutally, the Chinese army are told to keep the fingers of past assailants, and brandish them to new ones.

Question 17

推

Answer 17

PUSH // It takes a reeeaall ppuuuuuusssh but there’s no substitute for a lemon, pushed with fingers into a turkey. Spindly fingers are best for the shoving.

Question 18

搅

Answer 18

STIR // chef’s test. Put your fingers in a bowl, stir, and see if you sense what it is. This requires expert stirring technique and fingers which can sense… it’s alive!!!

Question 19

执

Answer 19

CLENCH // a dockyard thug carried pills in his fingers all day long. Besides the highs, the pill pot also provided a great fist aid, clenching his fingers around the pills.

Question 20

热

Answer 20

HEAT // The ultimate gangster heat hit. Pick a log from a blazing cooking fire, clench fingers around it into a fist, then punch a guy until he sees flames.

Question 21

接

Answer 21

WELCOME // african woman, vase of water on head, is welcomed in to the hut by a spindly finger. It all seems creepy, but the doormat (a bit out of place??) says ‘Welcome’, so all must be fine. “Weelllllcome, pretty lady”

Question 22

挂

Answer 22

HANG // in the absence of materials, the evil witch had to improvise with her new house. Bricks, yes, but for hanging pictures…? Ah ha! Bash fingers into walls and pictures hang from their spindly ends.

Question 23

按

Answer 23

PRESS DOWN ON // Thai massage used fingers to take you to a peaceful place. It involves pressing fingers down on temples, pressing and pressing until it passes through excruciating pain to blissful peace. (Woman in house, remember)

Question 24

掉

Answer 24

DROP // The eminent optician suggests an incredible innovation; why not use fingers as eye drop dispensers? See him, this eminent keynote speaker, pitching his finger drops to his eminent colleages. (Eminent = wand + sunflower, waving for peace)

Question 25

拉

Answer 25

PULL // A chinese finger trap in vase form. Put your finger in the vase, but DO NOT panic when it starts to pull your finger. As you draw out, your finger pulls further in.

Question 26

啦

Answer 26

!!!! // surprise, exclaimation, all mouths are agape as the magician (sometimes uncle) pulls a coin from his mouth. (Pull + Mouth, group them first)

Question 27

找

Answer 27

LOOK FOR // at the fiesta, the boy bashed his pinata so hard that it flew off and swiped grandpa’s finger. Everyone spent the whole fiesta looking for the finger!

Question 28

无

Answer 28

NOTHING // This is an extension of the character for Beginning (元). Adam - at the beginning of time - with his rib - the extra bit at the top - still bemoaning the nothingness of life. Before his rib was removed to make the lovely Eve, Adam had nothing except a big empty garden and his loneliness.

Question 29

抚

Answer 29

COMFORT // After weeks of carrying steel deck on her own Sian Farley found comfort; her sore fingers, carrying nothing, resting on a cushion. Nothing to carry all evening! The ultimate comfort.

Question 30

开

Answer 30

OPEN // (2 hands). In great ceremony, the door seperating two rival companies - strangely located right next door - is pushed open by each director simultaneously.&raquo_space; 2 hands 廾 / 丌

Question 31

研

Answer 31

GRIND AWAY // (stone + 2 hands) The damsel was hidden behind a giant stone door, and the only way in was to grind away at it with two hands. …thought one bloke. His competitor, meanwhile, ground away at the instruction manual and discovered that he could enter a passcode with two hands to gain entry.

Question 32

弄

Answer 32

PLAY WITH // ball + two hands. What could be more fun to play with than a ball that’s so big it requires two hands to hold it. (could also be king, but he doesn’t play with his hands ever, so stick with the big ball)

Question 33

异

Answer 33

DIFFERENT // the latest fashion, snakeskin gloves for your two hands, is naturally entirely different to that which came before. On the catwalk, models wear ever-more outlandish snakeskin patterns on their two hands, just to be as different as possible.

Question 34

鼻

Answer 34

NOSE // Ancient egypt, the pharaoh has just died. Along comes the undertaker bloke, and with two hands, yanks the guy’s brain right out through his nostrils. The nose is merely an obstruction, he says.

Question 35

刑

Answer 35

PUNISHMENT // The islamic punishment for theft is to cut off the perpetrator’s hand with a sabre. This guy, who stole a banana in one hand and a mango in the other, gets two hands sabred off!

Question 36

型

Answer 36

MOULD // The ancient craft of moulding soil into rough pots was improved infinitely by the introduction of sharp sabres. Thrilled, the aged potter goes on a rampage, cutting patterns into all of his old moulds. Moulding soil will never be the same, with his trusty sabre.

Question 37

才

Answer 37

GENIUS // Mozart was suuuch a genius that he could play even his most complex piece with just one finger. This, then, is a pictograph of one finger only, all the talent a genius needs.
» 才 genie (not in a bottle), with one magical finger, he can even play mozart
» ?? Genie in a bottle, positioned at left of character (more squished in) [first part of 存]

Question 38

财

Answer 38

RICHES // It’s a classic, the skipper asked his genie for riches, and whaddyaknow? Except genie didn’t provide straight cash, instead took skipper out to sea, where he landed more clams than he could ever possibly imagine. Clamillionaire.

Question 39

团

Answer 39

TROUPE // A truly horrible story; the genie is forced by law not to practise magic. In need of work, he has to join a theatrical troupe, who stick pent him in a cage and make him perform priestly plays at small towns. Pent in, and pissed off.

Question 40

存

Answer 40

DEPOSIT // The child, who was an incredibly bright spark, knew that the genie he’d found would be of considerably more use in the future. So he deposited it in a safe box until he was a child no more.

Question 41

在

Answer 41

AT // This is a clue in Zelda - where you find soil, there you find genies. Link goes round until he finds mounds of soil: “AT this spot, I shall dig up the soil to find a genie in a bottle”

Question 42

乃

Answer 42

ONLY THEN // This is a pictograph of a fist. “First”, said the master, “make a fist in your mind, then - and only then - can you begin the fight for real”. Only then can a fist be forged.
» Fist.

Question 43

奶

Answer 43

MILK // Women with fists… forget your dainty image of milkmaids in billowing dresses - these ladies are hardcore. They use fists to pummel cows until they relinquish milk.

Question 44

及

Answer 44

CATCH UP WITH // The boxer, head spinning, had lost himself in the moment, fists flying everywhere. His darling girlfriend came over and - with one stroke on the fist - helped him catch up with reality. He caught up with the moment just in time to KO.
» Outstretched hands (desperate for the girlfriend’s stroke)

Question 45

吸

Answer 45

INHALE // For freedivers, every inhalation counts. As well as what they can fit into their mouths, they take down two fistfuls of air in their outstretched hands.

Question 46

极

Answer 46

EXTREME // At night, GoApe begins their ‘extreme’ sessions. They take away all ropes and all harnesses, leaving only the tree and your outstretched arms. Extreme climbing!

Question 47

> > 史 [without square]

Answer 47

TUCKED UNDER THE ARM // A cane, tucked under the master’s arm, kept everyone in check.

Question 48

史

Answer 48

HISTORY // Prime Ministers tent to keep the ‘mouths’ of historic figures tucked under their arms. This is partly so they can learn from the mouths of history, and partly so that they can literally ‘tuck them away under their arm’, laying history to rest.

Question 49

更

Answer 49

EVEN MORE // Sure, you may think that outside - where the sun shines - is bright. But this character shows someone with the sun under his arm, making everything under the ceiling even more bright than outside. (Yes, it’s a wizard, showing off)

Question 50

硬

Answer 50

HARD // The champion warrior makes his pecks even more strong by packing them out with stones. Stones on his pecks, absolutely the hardest warrior ever to exist.

Question 51

又

Answer 51

AGAIN // This one’s used blimmin loads, and it’s just a repetition of itself, again and again.
Also, it looks like a…
» Crotch

Question 52

圣

Answer 52

HOLY // Holy baptisms (where a child is made holy), originally involved two elements, but the one shown here was cut. Water is splashed on the head and then, as here, the crotch is dunked in soil. Holy from head to crotch.

Question 53

友

Answer 53

FRIEND // Friend-turned-fuck-buddy, always by one’s side, this friend is actually an easy-access crotch. By one’s side, just for convenience.

Question 54

双

Answer 54

PAIR // Think pair, think card games. This, however, is a naughty pack. A pair of aces, as seen here, is represented by two pristine crotches. Cor.

Question 55

汉

Answer 55

HAN // The Han people are river folk, who know the importance of genital hygiene. Check out any Han person, they’re bound to wash their crotch in any river water they see, regardless of time or place. Water + Crotch, obviously han.

Question 56

戏

Answer 56

FROLIC // a properly niche sexual gathering, ‘frolic’ involves dressing up one’s crotch for a fiesta and frolicking in the Spanish meadows. Crotch + Fiesta.

Question 57

观

Answer 57

OBSERVE // The Observer newspaper had never printed a crotch before, but they had to let their readers see the crotches which were on display at a new Tate exhibition. An editorial conundrum, should observers see crotches?