My pal and I are taking some long-awaited furlough from UN peacekeeping operations. We are going to explore the wilds with another friend, and I am making a list of all the things we will need. So far, I have the following:

Mug, salt, a kayak, a vest, inkpot, pal, tent, ammo, Occasional Recuperational Break Regulations, ale, rifle, balm, a ham….

Just two questions:
What item (excluding essential liquids) will appear twice in the list, once completed?
What is the name of our very lovely female companion?

You have all the information you need to answer both questions.

The list is a palindromic list (with the acronym ORBR written out):

mug, salt, a kayak, a vest, inkpot, pal, tent, ammo, ORBR, ale, rifle, balm, a ham, ale, Elam¹, a ham label, fire, lar², broom, mat, net, laptop, knit³, sev⁴, a ka⁵,yak, atlas, gum

1. 'Elam' is a female name (variant of Eileen, Elaina and Elaine) of Hebrew origin meaning 'highlands'
2. 'lar' is a statue of a household god from ancient Rome
3. 'knit' is a knitted garment or knitted fabric
4. 'sev' is a South Asian snack made from bean-flour and spices resembling crispy noodles
5. a 'ka' is the soul of an ancient, dead Egyptian, said to be able to reside in a statue (perhaps residing in the lar²)

I have a strong suspicion that the second 'ale' and the name 'Elam' wasn't to be in the solution. There was to be no 'sev', 'a ka' or 'yak', and, instead of 'knit', the list was to include 'knits', the lady's name, 'Eva', and 'kayak' - which was the item to be listed a second time. (But I didn't like that one 'kayak' was listed with the article 'a' and the other was not, thus the list variant).

Posted by Dej Mar on 2010-08-25 16:37:23