The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The programmer
4) The misandrist
The ones that got away
1) In Ireland, what is a 'boreen'?
2) Ditloid: 37 P O W S
3) Identify the film from this quote: "What business is it of yours where I come from, friendo?"
4) In science, liquefaction is the process of turning what into a liquid?
5) Which god gave Midas the power to turn things into gold?
6) Identify the London station from this cryptic clue: "The grave's stony block down the country road"
7) Identify the London station from this cryptic clue: "A green space next to a forest"
The answers
The excuses
1) I'm starting to wonder if we are destined to never answer a question about Ireland correctly. Usually it's counties (of which, thanks to University Challenge, I now know there are the same number as cantons of Switzerland and bones in the foot), or occasionally rugby, but this week it was 'Irish words you should have heard of'. We felt a touch hard done-by at the time, but it does feature on this Wikipedia page, so fair play.
2) Galling. Despite this particular 37 being a Very Important Number in trivia-land, none of us remembered it. We had a stab with "37 platforms on Waterloo Station", knowing that it has the most platforms of any UK station. Unfortunately, it turns out that number is still only 19.
3) Our obligatory film quote fail, mitigated at least slightly by the fact only one of us had actually seen it.
4) One of those questions that probably shouldn't have made it into a quiz. We initially had the 'correct' answer, but after asking for the question to be repeated were informed that it required a "quite specific" answer, so went for the process of dead bodies turning into liquid (thanks to one of our team being a fan of CSI) which is arguably a valid answer. It seems, however, that it's quite a general term, but serves as a good illustration of how careful you need to be if you want to set questions about scientific/technical terminology.
5) A bad miss. We considered the correct answer, but it didn't ring any bells so went with the damage limitation play of Zeus. Still, it's a good excuse to remind ourselves of some of the myths about King Midas, which are great fun (particularly his apparently mental barber).
6-7) Another poor week for crypitc Tube stations. We had something of a near miss with Tombstone Lane for the first, before going with the 'we know it's wrong but at least it's a real station' Green Park for the second.
A blog about quizzes by trivia nuts.
Each week, quiz obsessives and Only Connect champions
Jamie Karran (@NoDrNo) and Michael Wallace (@statacake)
take on the pub quizzes of the world.
Find out every Friday if you could have helped with the questions they got wrong.
Sunday 31 March 2013
Monday 25 March 2013
24/03/13: Bonus quiz: in and out of the wheelhouse
In a break from tradition, here's a mini-quiz written by one of our regular quiz attendees (the programmer). Designed for the statistician and the doctor, questions (all of which are included below) alternate between those we were expected to know, and those we weren't. After each one the letters S and D in red or green indicate which of the statistician and doctor got the answer incorrect or correct.
The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
The ones that got away
1) Where in the body is the malleolus? S D
2) With 49 tries, who is the England rugby team's all-time highest try-scorer? S D
3) The highest-scoring opening move in Scrabble is MUZJIKS for how many points? S D
4) Before decimalisation, how many shillings made a half crown? S D
5) Who was the British monarch immediately before Victoria? S D
6) Which film starring Gene Hackman and Roy Schnieder as NYPD narcotics officers won the Best Picture Oscar in 1971? S D
7) What word is spelled Tungsten Indium Darmstadtium Uranium Rutherfordium Erbium? S D
7a) Bonus Question: Of the elements whose symbol does not begin with the same letter as their element name, which has the highest atomic number?
8) In Eastenders, who killed Archie Mitchell on Christmas Day 2009? S D
9) What does QED stand for? S D
10) Which county neighbours Cheshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, and West Midlands? S D
The answers
The excuses
1) A neat fake-out of sorts, with the ear's malleus bone an easy distraction.
2) The doctor's rugby knowledge was sufficient to guess Jonny Wilkinson, while I knew enough to know that was definitely wrong, but nothing more.
3) Quite a few bits to remember on this one. First up are the letter values, with MUZJIKS converting to 3+1+10+8+1+5+1=29 points. Next up is knowing your Scrabble board enough to remember that there's a double letter score four squares either side of the centre star. You need to stick the Z on the one to the left to maximize your score, taking the raw tile values up to 39. The centre square is also a double word score, so this takes you up to 78. This was as far as I got, but after all that I forgot to add the 50 point bonus for using all your tiles. Oops.
4) Pre-decimalisation currency is classic quiz fare, and something I've tried to learn at various points, without much success (I generally get stuck beyond remembering 12 pence in a shilling and 20 shillings in a pound). The guinea is at least a slightly fun one: it was originally equal to a nice round pound but, being made of gold, its value fluctuated until eventually it was fixed at 21 shillings.
5) Another area I've made a point of learning. William IV is a particularly important one to remember for the somewhat classic quiz question of "Assuming he doesn't choose a new name, what will Prince William's regnal number be when he ascends the throne?"
6) The doctor somewhat confounds expectations here, for once getting a film question correct because he's actually seen it, rather than a poster of it on the Tube.
7) I'm not sure if the bonus question that this inspired is particularly fair for a 'general' quiz, but I think it's gettable if you're catering to a slightly scientifically-minded group.
8) We're planning on emigrating soon, and the thought of never being expected to know anything about Eastenders is certainly part of the appeal.
9) The doctor is furious with me for writing this one up.
10) Despite making a concerted attempt in recent weeks to learn some British geography lately, we are still terrible at it. The only thing I know about Staffordshire is that its largest city was formed from six separate towns, thanks to an episode of Songs of Praise filmed there. In the introduction, the presenter asked us if we could explain how he had visited six different towns in just one morning. The answer? "No, I'm not Superman, I'm in Stoke-on-Trent!".
The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
The ones that got away
1) Where in the body is the malleolus? S D
2) With 49 tries, who is the England rugby team's all-time highest try-scorer? S D
3) The highest-scoring opening move in Scrabble is MUZJIKS for how many points? S D
4) Before decimalisation, how many shillings made a half crown? S D
5) Who was the British monarch immediately before Victoria? S D
6) Which film starring Gene Hackman and Roy Schnieder as NYPD narcotics officers won the Best Picture Oscar in 1971? S D
7) What word is spelled Tungsten Indium Darmstadtium Uranium Rutherfordium Erbium? S D
7a) Bonus Question: Of the elements whose symbol does not begin with the same letter as their element name, which has the highest atomic number?
8) In Eastenders, who killed Archie Mitchell on Christmas Day 2009? S D
9) What does QED stand for? S D
10) Which county neighbours Cheshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, and West Midlands? S D
The answers
1) The ankle
2) Rory Underwood
3) 128
4) 2.5
5) William IV
6) The French Connection
7) W In Ds U Rf Er = Windsurfer
7a) Lead (symbol Pb, atomic number 82)
8) Stacey Branning (née Slater at the time of the murder)
9) Quod erat demonstrandum
10) Staffordshire
2) Rory Underwood
3) 128
4) 2.5
5) William IV
6) The French Connection
7) W In Ds U Rf Er = Windsurfer
7a) Lead (symbol Pb, atomic number 82)
8) Stacey Branning (née Slater at the time of the murder)
9) Quod erat demonstrandum
10) Staffordshire
The excuses
1) A neat fake-out of sorts, with the ear's malleus bone an easy distraction.
2) The doctor's rugby knowledge was sufficient to guess Jonny Wilkinson, while I knew enough to know that was definitely wrong, but nothing more.
3) Quite a few bits to remember on this one. First up are the letter values, with MUZJIKS converting to 3+1+10+8+1+5+1=29 points. Next up is knowing your Scrabble board enough to remember that there's a double letter score four squares either side of the centre star. You need to stick the Z on the one to the left to maximize your score, taking the raw tile values up to 39. The centre square is also a double word score, so this takes you up to 78. This was as far as I got, but after all that I forgot to add the 50 point bonus for using all your tiles. Oops.
4) Pre-decimalisation currency is classic quiz fare, and something I've tried to learn at various points, without much success (I generally get stuck beyond remembering 12 pence in a shilling and 20 shillings in a pound). The guinea is at least a slightly fun one: it was originally equal to a nice round pound but, being made of gold, its value fluctuated until eventually it was fixed at 21 shillings.
5) Another area I've made a point of learning. William IV is a particularly important one to remember for the somewhat classic quiz question of "Assuming he doesn't choose a new name, what will Prince William's regnal number be when he ascends the throne?"
6) The doctor somewhat confounds expectations here, for once getting a film question correct because he's actually seen it, rather than a poster of it on the Tube.
7) I'm not sure if the bonus question that this inspired is particularly fair for a 'general' quiz, but I think it's gettable if you're catering to a slightly scientifically-minded group.
8) We're planning on emigrating soon, and the thought of never being expected to know anything about Eastenders is certainly part of the appeal.
9) The doctor is furious with me for writing this one up.
10) Despite making a concerted attempt in recent weeks to learn some British geography lately, we are still terrible at it. The only thing I know about Staffordshire is that its largest city was formed from six separate towns, thanks to an episode of Songs of Praise filmed there. In the introduction, the presenter asked us if we could explain how he had visited six different towns in just one morning. The answer? "No, I'm not Superman, I'm in Stoke-on-Trent!".
Sunday 17 March 2013
29/01/13: Starting to drag on
The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
The ones that got away
1) Idris is a dragon in which children's TV programme?
2) What was the currency of the Netherlands prior to the Euro?
3) How long does it take Halley's comet to orbit the sun? (You can have a year either way)
4) Identify the film from this quote: "Gimme some sugar, baby."
5) Identify the London station from this cryptic clue: "Bacon or pastries upon high."
The answers
The excuses
1) We managed to come up with three children's shows which we knew to have dragons in, none of which were the correct answer (but as a fun bonus quiz, see if you can name any of them: answers under the button below). First, we spent a long time debating whether the BBC Look and Read 'classic' Through the Dragon's Eye was famous enough to be what was expected, as we had coincidentally watched a few episodes on YouTube the day before. Why were we watching videos of old BBC children's programmes? Because that's what YouTube suggests if you watch too many episodes Knightmare, apparently. This also has a dragon in it, of course, but while I couldn't remember his name I was pretty sure it wasn't Idris either. So, we finally settled on the Clangers, the name of whose dragon I could actually recall (spoilers: it's not Idris), but was rather optimistically hoping was some sort of nickname.
2) Bad miss this one. We stuck down Krona without really thinking, even though any fule kno that's more of a Scandinavia(ish) thing.
3) Another classic overthink. The doctor immediately thought 75, which I suggested would make it a very difficult question with such a small margin for error, so instead we went for a nice round 100. Oops. (In fact, it seems the one year either way was allowed because the orbit varies between 75 and 76 years, although the answer given was 75.)
4) More film quote fun for us. We went with Mary Poppins, because why not.
5) No comment.
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
The ones that got away
1) Idris is a dragon in which children's TV programme?
2) What was the currency of the Netherlands prior to the Euro?
3) How long does it take Halley's comet to orbit the sun? (You can have a year either way)
4) Identify the film from this quote: "Gimme some sugar, baby."
5) Identify the London station from this cryptic clue: "Bacon or pastries upon high."
The answers
1) Ivor the Engine
2) Guilder
3) 75 (although see comment below)
4) Army of Darkness
5) Denmark Hill
2) Guilder
3) 75 (although see comment below)
4) Army of Darkness
5) Denmark Hill
The excuses
1) We managed to come up with three children's shows which we knew to have dragons in, none of which were the correct answer (but as a fun bonus quiz, see if you can name any of them: answers under the button below). First, we spent a long time debating whether the BBC Look and Read 'classic' Through the Dragon's Eye was famous enough to be what was expected, as we had coincidentally watched a few episodes on YouTube the day before. Why were we watching videos of old BBC children's programmes? Because that's what YouTube suggests if you watch too many episodes Knightmare, apparently. This also has a dragon in it, of course, but while I couldn't remember his name I was pretty sure it wasn't Idris either. So, we finally settled on the Clangers, the name of whose dragon I could actually recall (spoilers: it's not Idris), but was rather optimistically hoping was some sort of nickname.
1) Through the Dragon's Eye: Gorwen
2) Knightmare: Smirkenorff
3) Clangers: Soup Dragon
2) Knightmare: Smirkenorff
3) Clangers: Soup Dragon
2) Bad miss this one. We stuck down Krona without really thinking, even though any fule kno that's more of a Scandinavia(ish) thing.
3) Another classic overthink. The doctor immediately thought 75, which I suggested would make it a very difficult question with such a small margin for error, so instead we went for a nice round 100. Oops. (In fact, it seems the one year either way was allowed because the orbit varies between 75 and 76 years, although the answer given was 75.)
4) More film quote fun for us. We went with Mary Poppins, because why not.
5) No comment.
Sunday 10 March 2013
05/03/13: In South Africa, stag nights are known as 'bull's parties'
The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The programmer
4) The misandrist
The ones that got away
1) Who assassinated Martin Luther King Junior?
2) Identify the film from this quote: "Maybe I'll give you a call sometime. Your number's still 911?"
3) Brain teaser: What does an island and the letter T have in common?
4) Who hid in an oak tree in Boscobel Wood?
5) In what year did the Wright brothers take their first flight?
The answers
The excuses
1) One of those things one really should know but we didn't. Fortunately I've now come up with the impossible-to-forget aide memoire of it being a sort-of-portmaneau of James Earl Jones and Earl Grey.
2) Proof that we can miss a film quote even when it's from something most of us have seen more than once. Apparently my insightful contribution of "it must be an American film with a character from the emergency services in it" wasn't sufficient help.
3) The first time we've ever missed this quiz's brain teaser question. We toyed with White (sounds like Isle of Wight and white tea) and Ice (because of Iceland and the rapper - the drink would be iced), but will concede that these were (slightly) more contrived than the actual answer.
4) Biggest embarrassment of the night, where all we could remember was that it had something to do with the Civil War, but plumped for Charles I.
5) Despite being allowed a year either way, and thanks to the drunkest member of the team suggesting the correct answer, we were well off the point with a guess of 1910.
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The programmer
4) The misandrist
The ones that got away
1) Who assassinated Martin Luther King Junior?
2) Identify the film from this quote: "Maybe I'll give you a call sometime. Your number's still 911?"
3) Brain teaser: What does an island and the letter T have in common?
4) Who hid in an oak tree in Boscobel Wood?
5) In what year did the Wright brothers take their first flight?
The answers
1) James Earl Ray
2) Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
3) They're both in the middle of water. (Geddit??!!)
4) Charles II
5) 1903
2) Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
3) They're both in the middle of water. (Geddit??!!)
4) Charles II
5) 1903
The excuses
1) One of those things one really should know but we didn't. Fortunately I've now come up with the impossible-to-forget aide memoire of it being a sort-of-portmaneau of James Earl Jones and Earl Grey.
2) Proof that we can miss a film quote even when it's from something most of us have seen more than once. Apparently my insightful contribution of "it must be an American film with a character from the emergency services in it" wasn't sufficient help.
3) The first time we've ever missed this quiz's brain teaser question. We toyed with White (sounds like Isle of Wight and white tea) and Ice (because of Iceland and the rapper - the drink would be iced), but will concede that these were (slightly) more contrived than the actual answer.
4) Biggest embarrassment of the night, where all we could remember was that it had something to do with the Civil War, but plumped for Charles I.
5) Despite being allowed a year either way, and thanks to the drunkest member of the team suggesting the correct answer, we were well off the point with a guess of 1910.
Monday 4 March 2013
26/02/13: Sometimes you should overthink it
The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The programmer
The ones that got away
1) Is John McEnroe left- or right-handed?
2) Who was Dangermouse's sidekick?
3) Ditloid: 3 S O A S A
4) What fruit is a cross between an orange and a tangerine?
5) Identify the film from this quote: "Dammit! Why didn't I concur?!"
The answers
The excuses
1) The meta-game answer is "left, because you wouldn't ask if it was right", but we've made that mistake before on this particular quiz, so playing the percentages went for right, which was not right.
2) Someone said Morocco Mole (of Secret Squirrel fame), and clearly none of us actually thought about it too hard after that. (While Wiki-walking for this write up, I discovered the possibly well-known fact that Penfold is also a type of pillar box, another of which, of course, served as his and Dangermouse's home in the cartoon.
3) Quite a gettable one this (usually if we miss a ditloid it's because it's a little bit silly), we went with the almost-plausible 3 Sails on a Ship's Arm.
4) First of all, we went with tangelo, but that's a tangerine crossed with a grapefruit. However, on reading up on this it seems that a clementine is, along with the tangerine, just a type of (Mandarin) orange, and as far as I can tell, isn't an orange-tangerine hybrid. In fact, I can't find anywhere on the Internet that gives a plausible suggestion as to what such a thing would be. If anyone can enlighten me, answers on a postcard, etc. Update: @h_carver has found evidence that the answer should in fact be tangor, so now you know.
5) Nothing much to say here: we went for Starter for 10, on the grounds that 'concur' sounds a bit like 'confer'. Faultless logic.
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The programmer
The ones that got away
1) Is John McEnroe left- or right-handed?
2) Who was Dangermouse's sidekick?
3) Ditloid: 3 S O A S A
4) What fruit is a cross between an orange and a tangerine?
5) Identify the film from this quote: "Dammit! Why didn't I concur?!"
The answers
1) Left-handed
2) Penfold
3) 3 stripes on a sergeant's arm
4) The answer given was clementine, but I'm not convinced (see below)
5) Catch Me If You Can
2) Penfold
3) 3 stripes on a sergeant's arm
4) The answer given was clementine, but I'm not convinced (see below)
5) Catch Me If You Can
The excuses
1) The meta-game answer is "left, because you wouldn't ask if it was right", but we've made that mistake before on this particular quiz, so playing the percentages went for right, which was not right.
2) Someone said Morocco Mole (of Secret Squirrel fame), and clearly none of us actually thought about it too hard after that. (While Wiki-walking for this write up, I discovered the possibly well-known fact that Penfold is also a type of pillar box, another of which, of course, served as his and Dangermouse's home in the cartoon.
3) Quite a gettable one this (usually if we miss a ditloid it's because it's a little bit silly), we went with the almost-plausible 3 Sails on a Ship's Arm.
4) First of all, we went with tangelo, but that's a tangerine crossed with a grapefruit. However, on reading up on this it seems that a clementine is, along with the tangerine, just a type of (Mandarin) orange, and as far as I can tell, isn't an orange-tangerine hybrid. In fact, I can't find anywhere on the Internet that gives a plausible suggestion as to what such a thing would be. If anyone can enlighten me, answers on a postcard, etc. Update: @h_carver has found evidence that the answer should in fact be tangor, so now you know.
5) Nothing much to say here: we went for Starter for 10, on the grounds that 'concur' sounds a bit like 'confer'. Faultless logic.