Typophile

Thanks a lot, Yves! Well, then let’s go:

This time, at least naming the glyph shouldn’t be too hard.

lowercase q Dispatch???

Not a q …

Sorry for being rude 2 U - Hi Florian!!! :-)

Is it the alternate g?

Hi Mike,
hallelujah! Yes, it is the alternate g of Dispatch Condensed by Cyrus Highsmith. Gosh, what a shame—15 minutes. I guess I really should have cropped it more maliciously, huh? ;°D
But after this and that, I thought it might be nice to slow down the pace.
Wrong, then. Arrrgh! :°)

Whoopie for me!!! I finally got on the advanced ones!

Thanks Florian. I didn't even check for a Condensed weight- so we'll take off a million points okay? :o) ... hehe.

I'll post something soon... I'm trying to think of fonts that are not easily guessable.

Mike Diaz :-)

Thank you guys for waiting!

Okay here we go for the clue hunters:

"If this little guy would have visited my no-so-classy hometown of Pomona California yesterday he would have certainly boiled over at a whopping 110°F (or 43°C for our metric friends). Sadly for many of us (but not all) his time has passed. Feel free to guess."

Take that and that and this font freaks!

Mikey ;OP

PS... I put the pink border to make Yves mad... aheheeheheh

An outline face, probably the g or the e. May be a variant of a handwriting family.

Althouth I prefer the 1 pixel red border, I find your pink one suit pretty well with your avatar ;^)

Andre you are right it is an outline face and this is an e too. And of course the pink rocks my avatar.

Mikey :-)

Hi guys. Stumped? Perhaps I made it a little too hard.

Well you can't actually find this font anywhere on the internet anymore. But if you take your thinking caps back to 2001 when you binged on free fonts you might remember this one. The designer is from down under, but this cuddly (yet ferocious) font is from a place much colder.

Mike :-)

ps... this is another glyph to break the ice with... uh hmmm...

Polar Bear by Chank.

(I only got it because of your clue).

Edit. Oh yeah I forgot - m.

Nick Cooke

Is there a way that we could see a sample of that typeface?

This is the only one I could find:

Polar Bear

Nick Cooke

Thanks for the link Nick. I've a better idea why there was a difference between the two sample (e and m).

André

Nick you got it!!! I looked all over and couldn't find a page with a sample of Polar Bear. I guess it wasn't that hard after all!

The designer of Polar Bear is David Buck from SparkyType (please spend $$ on his site guys). David told he couldn't remember much about the typeface at the time of its creation except that he was working for Chank at the time. But there may be something new in the future along similar lines as Polar Bear.

Many people try to do cute and fluffy and they fail. Not Mr. Buck! :-)

Nick, take it away!

Mikey :-)

OK, Here we go. Hopefully this will last longer than my last one (about 5 mins).

I won't give any info yet.

Nick Cooke

So, let’s start: Blackletter?

No. But YOU are in the right area Florian.

Nick Cooke

Caps B or R from German type designer.

ß as in ſʒ!

Not cap B or R, but yes to the 2nd bit.

Yeß.

Nick Cooke

No takers?

Come on! you kahn get this.

Nick Cooke

Hello?... Anyone?... Hello?

I've just cleared the tumbleweed away to bring this new character with a similar feature to the previous character.

Nick Cooke

Seems to be a special typeface which has been drawn by a german type designer. I deduct that's probably a person named Khan if I understand one of your post. ;^) That's what I'm looking for since last week! Hopping I'm in a good way.

You're getting warm Andre.

He was born Kahn, but that is not how was known. He was multi talented, but mainly known for posters.

Nick Cooke

Sorry, I missed some...
My track-page linked to the old Quests... silly!

My attempt on this one:

Lucian Bernhard (Emil Kahn) designed several fonts.
I Believe Didgeree Doodle NF shows some 'gelijkenis'.

Arjen

You're right about Lucian Bernhard Arjen, but it's not Didgeree Doodle NF.

I've no idea what gelijkenis are/is.

Nick Cooke

I hang my head in shame :^*

Think Monotype not Linotype.

Mea culpa.

Nick Cooke

Quincunx

...shows some 'gelijkenis' = similarities.

Thanks Quincunx.

Ok Bernhard Bold Condensed.
It wasn't so hard to find on My Fonts. Someone allready suggested it was ß.

And I found some info & a poster he designed here.

Lucian Bernhard was born in Stuttgart, Germany in 1860. Mainly a self-taught artist, in 1905 Bernhard won a competition sponsored for the Berlin Chamber of Commerce. He began producing posters and quickly established himself as one of the most important people working in this field in Germany.
Bernhard was employed by the German government during the First World War to produce propaganda posters. After the war he became Professor of Poster Design at the Berlin Royal Academy.
In 1923 Bernhard moved to the United States where he joined with Rockwell Kent to establish the New York design company, Contempora. Over the next few years he was involved in several projects including the design of 36 different typefaces. Lucian Bernhard died in 1972.

For some reason MT call it Bernard Bold Condensed. It's like a sanitised version of a Bernhard font, but yes Arjen, you're right.

I first became aware of Lucian Bernhard at an exhibition of 'Deutsche Plakate 1888-1933' called 'Kunst Kommerz Visionen' at the Deutsches Historiches Museum in Berlin in 1992 where LB featured quite prominently. There were a number of contemporaries of LB who all worked in a similar graphic style; Julius Gipkens, Louis Oppenheim, and Julius Klinger, but Bernhard stood out for me.

There was some fantastic stuff there. I wonder if that exhibition ever travelled?

Take it away Arjen.

Nick Cooke

Quincunx

Ok, that is freaky coincidence. We (my class) just discussed that poster at art history/typography history today. Only 3 hours ago or something, lol.

Is it possible to see the entire glyph ß chosen in Bernhard bold condensed. I think, but I can be wrong, the first portion of the glyph showed by Nick does'nt look like the one on Bernhard bold condensed from Myfonts (showed below).

There are at least two version of the Bold Condensed:

Monotype Imaging Font Family — 1 style;

Bitstream Font Family — 1 style;

Then Linotype, URW++, Paratype, Elsner&Flake, and others offer versions of Bernhard.
I guess the quality of the preview-image doesn't make it easy to compare.

But sim, you're absolutely right!!!
Bernard MT Condensed (not Bold) looks more like the image showed by Nick:

And there is a similar one by Mecanorma:

Thanks Arjen for the answer. d:¬)

Here's a new one.

What a «sharp» typeface! ;¬)

A caps R or Q?

No, it's something more special.

That's what I thought when I took a second look at the little slant line in the up left corner. I'm in the dark for now.

Maybe an 's' or 'S' with a big spike coming off of it?

- Lex

You'll find this character under keystroke '8'.
edit: it's more or less someding illustrative. Second image:

Ha! It’s Bello Words Body by Underware. The brush gave it away.

Congratulations Florian.
And to be precise: Bello Words Solo.

Yeah!
And to be precise: Bello Words Solo.
Well, but this glyph is identical in the Body cut … ;^)

Okay, next one:

No hints for now …
[edit: a slightly larger view]

First I thought it was a rotated 8 or 3, but it looks weird.
My guess is 'x' of some script-face.
[edit:] Roundhand BT ???

Hooi Arjen,
I’m sorry to say that it is neither an ‘x’ nor a figure. No rotation involved here.
And it is not something I would refer to as ‘script’.
F

Perhaps a 'w' or 'W' from a big fat outlined face, something like Cooper outline?

- Lex

Hey Lex, it is not a ‘w’/‘W’ and not an outlined face …
F

Probaly the æ from an italic serif typeface.

Andre,
not an ‘æ’ and not an italic, sorry!
But you’re getting a little bit closer …
:°)
F

If this was Mastermind, I’d give you a white peg … :°D

right place, right time?

:D
Right (part) letter, wrong position …

"oo" lig?

- Lex

Then I would have given a black peg, no? ;^)
I’ll zoom out a bit:

It’s uppercase. More hints?

[edit]
Mmmh, seems so. Well:
This bit is taken from an award winning font with nearly 2000 glyphs.

No guesses? Okay, instead of a hint, I’ll post a detail of another glyph of this typeface.

It's quiet here.
I can't win this one and haven't had any time to look for the solution.
Maybe this weekend...

Arjen

Seems to be a tough one … but it can’t be totally unknown, as I got 38 hits when searching its name on typophile.com. :°)
Okay; it’s done by a German designer, and it is quite young—although it doesn’t look very contemporary.

Akira Yoshino

The first one is ‘DO’ ligature, isn’t it?

Yes, it is.

Akira Yoshino

It seems I’ve found the font. :D

I think I should not say what the font is, as I’m hosting an intermediate level quiz.

Come on now, anybody still following?
Here’s the whole glyph, correctly identified by Akira as ‘DO’ ligature:

Well done, but why shouldn't Akira take the credits for this one.
Go on and say it...
I'm not allowed to win, so I'm waiting on your new challenge...
But Akira, are you sure it's not about this glyph ?

Akira Yoshino

Well, I’m hosting another ID pop quiz, so it’s hard for me to host both of them.

Arjen, if you know what the font is, please answer that. I want to give the credit to you.

are you sure it’s not about this glyph ?

Quite sure, as it uppercase, and additionally, there are a lot more of those (nowadays) unusual ligatures in the font. This is the second glyph, obviously a ‘TR’ ligature:

I really don't know.
I can't find any clues on "DO ligature" or "DO digraph", because Google directs me to all sorts of techtalk on how-to-do-ligatures...
I have never seen this glyph before!
Sorry.

Karsten Luecke's Litteratra.

Yes Stéphane, that’s correct!

Yes, we have a winner!
I had really never heard of this font.
It looks real nice, but I guess that's because I have some kind of weakness for ancient looking things... Nice challenge, Florian.

OK, here's a new one, then…
Good luck, everybody.

Is this a two-letter-ligature (like ‘cc’, for example) again? Or did you send me on the wrong track?
F

Good to read from you, Florian — I was beginning to feel pretty lonely in here…
Yes, it's a two-letter ligature.

A very fat sans, no?

Yes. Now the fun part begins.

Oh, where have all the experts gone ?

I'm probably not an expert. I think I'll need a clue. :^)

"CO" ?

- Lex

Nope — much more common than that.

"ff" or "ffl" or "ffi" then?

- Lex

Sorry, no again — it's one of the standard ligatures in the Postscript format. Really.

Yes, Florian, that's the one.

Is it Today Ultra Italic?

Yes, it's Today UltraItalic. Congratulations !

Not bad! Really a special one, Stéphane.

Here's a new one...

Yes, it's a.

Here's a hint

Another hint :-)
This is how it looks when it's not bold.

Is it Parry from OurType?

I'll answer my own question: it's not, close though... ;^)

This one's tough, so here's another hint...

It's a 2005 font. And the foundry name starts with A...

Nice a BTW.

reminds me of Zapata and Luc[as] de Groot. But it's not, I know. A... Adobe?

It's not Adobe. And it's not some obscure foundry.

Ascender?

The catch is, it's alternate lowercase a.

Found it! It's Miramonte Pro.

That's it! Congrats.

Did you know that e. g. Emigre's Tarzana also has an alternative lowercase a?
Just curious if there are more fonts (except Schoolbook versions like that of Gill Sans) with this feature (single-storey vs. doublestorey a)...

No, didn't know that, but I'm far from an expert. But I'm sure there are people here who can anwer that - I'd like to know too :^P

New challenge:

Double-storey ‘a’ again?

No, not double-storey. Think bigger ;^)

A cap, in LCD style?

Capital A, not LCD. But this font is bright and shiny.

FF Scala Jewel Diamond

Bart - your clue was too easy, I wouldn't have got it otherwise :^)

Nick Cooke

Crystal, Jewel, whatever … ;°)
Congrats, Nick!

Ah well, if you know the answer, it's always easy ;^)

Your turn to shine!

Right, back to business:

Mmmh, let’s see … a ‘3’ would be to simple, wouldn’t it? Is it a monstrous ‘ß’?

Damn, can't pull the wool over you eyes Florian! Yes, you're right.

Nick Cooke

Here's another.

If you so choose, you can have this family for free!

One of Microsoft's ClearType project fonts ?

No, I don’t think so, Stéphane.

What character is the second one, a ‘ģ’ or something similar? Is this face younger than 10 years?

Much younger than 10 years - 2007!

Yes, it's a g with cedilla.

Nick Cooke

2007? I knew this is spick-and-span-new!
Could it be Thomas’ lovely Hypatia Sans (Black)?

Florian, you should be barred from this contest - you win too often.

You win again.

Nick Cooke

you should be barred from this contest
Come on, it’s not like there are a lot of people taking part, is it? ;°)

you win too often
Well, only once a month … Last time was in September, so I had to answer this one today!

You win again.
Yeehaw! Hypatia really looks tempting.

If you so choose, you can have this family for free!
Now everything makes sense. Then, you cannot call a €1000-Upgrade (that is ~$1400!) ‘for free’ …

Alright, let’s go again:

Good luck everyone!

Er… Nick, could you post a picture of the whole glyph ? I'm curious about this "g-with-cedilla" stuff.
As a rule I think that such a picture could be posted by the originator of the challenge as soon as someone has cracked it — it's a bit frustrating sometimes to be denied the pleasure of the complete revelation of a particularily tricky challenge. What would you think of it, Yves ?

You’re right, that once was the custom. Alas, I can’t offer a ‘g’ with cedilla, but I found this
PDF with text settings, with a black ‘g’ amongst others.

Thank you very much, Florian.

I forgot, Celeste- sorry.

Thank you anyway, Nick.
In which language are you supposed to use such a glyph ? I looked up in Bringhurst, but I couldn't find any clue.

Sorry, I have been taking part in another contest for the past weeks:
http://www.nationalekrakercompetitie.nl, but I have decided to quit. I haven't been able to find much of the answers and I keep on searching and searching...
And since I'm very busy with work at the same time, there hasn't been much time left for Typophile... Waste of time, really!

But this one looks like some ligature:
ha, he, ho or a combination with ba, be, bo ...
Maybe?

Hi Arjen,
welcome back! ;°)

Yes, it is a ligature!
And yes, one of these combinations is included – but there’s more to it: it’s not only a 2-letter-ligature …

Somehow it looks familiar.
A wild guess:
Meta Book Pro (The-ligature)

Oh, Arjen – you found it! Congratulations!
These quizzes are strange: first there’s nobody, no try-and-error guesses, no begs for hints … and suddenly someone comes along and knows the answer right away. Pfff! I’ve had prepared such clever-clever hints …
Well, take it away! ;°)

Btw, do you agree that this ‘The’ thing absolutely doesn’t fit in Meta? Not that I don’t like it (I think it’s cool they did all those fancy extra ligatures – heck, one doesn’t have to use them all the time, no?) – but they just don’t feel very spiekeresque.

Quincunx

I agree, it doesn't really look like it belongs to Meta. I think the 'h' looks especially weird.