Oh my word! What a great selection of clues. There are too many to mention all the good ones, so please don’t be upset if I miss you. There is also no chance of me making a rational decision on the winner; I will just have to go with which one I liked best – again apologies if this means that I have passed over a technically superior clue.
I liked:
Ixion @3 with an &lit anagram; BBM2 @4 with a reference to a serious disagreement; GK’s succinct effort @5 (I generally like succinct); les’s @7 (sly reference to a recent disagreement?); heathcliff @8 anticipating the prize; paul’s scientifically accurate (probably) clue @14; and therogue’s @20 – similar implication as BBM’s @4.
But my selection is susan’s “nutty effort” @10 – partly because I’ve had a glass of wine too!
In the beginning, this hairy elephant began inventing great big awesome nebulous galaxies, then humans evolved, over recent years - well, that's one explanation as to how we might have got here! (3,3,4,6)
Your prize is from “The big bang theory” (one of the funniest programmes ever on TV, I think). Dr. Sheldon Cooper is having a problem with a bird. (I did think of setting “ornithophobia” as the challenge, but decided that we would have more fun with this.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKtURlmsnXU
Thanks everyone. I hope that you enjoy it!