Nee-san is Japanese for brother

New to The Ones That Got Away? Find out what it's all about here (or just scroll down if you want some delicious quiz dissection).

The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor

The ones that got away
1) How many EU member states were there in 2012?
2) What was the former brand name of car manufacturers Nissan?
3) Static occlusion, dynamic occlusion, and centric occlusion are all caused by a misalignment of what?
4) What traditionally mysterious, but increasingly transparent organization is casually referred to as 'The Craft'?
5) Which US State is known as the Beef State?
6) Rib, stretcher, runner, tube, ferrule and crookhandle are all parts of which commonly encountered protective device?
7) The litas is the currency of which country?

The answers

1) 27 (it's now 28; Croatia joined earlier this year - but don't go looking up a list unless you want to be spoilered for one of the bonus questions!)
2) Datsun
3) Teeth
4) The Freemasons
5) Nebraska
6) Umbrella
7) Lithuania

Poll results: 13 votes with 1 scoring 7/7 (!), 2 scoring 4/7, 1 scoring 3/7, 3 scoring 2/7 and 6 joining us on zero.

The average voter scored just under 2/7!

The excuses

1) One I really should have learnt by now. Thanks to a question my team failed to get on University Challenge I knew that - two years ago - if you added the number of EU states to the number of EU languages you got 50, but this led me to 26 rather than the required 27. (By some coincidence a very similar question popped up on last week's episode, which is unfortunately now out of date as, with the addition of Croatia (and Croatian) that total is now 52.)
2) Cars are never our strong point, let alone car history. The origins of the name are quite interesting though, including a trip through 'Datson' which was altered to the current spelling as 'son' means 'loss' in Japanese.
3) Years of medical training paying off in style, we went with eyes (which was at least quite a common mistake in the pub on the night).
4) We got very distracted by the 'increasingly transparent' part of the question, convincing ourselves that it must be espionage (hence spycraft).
5) Here we seriously considered the correct answer for the most implausible of reasons. Having initially ruled out the obvious Texas (since we knew it as the Lone Star State) we remembered Nebraska as the childhood home of Penny from The Big Bang Theory, whose 'country' upbringing is frequently referenced. Unfortunately we ended up playing it 'safe', although given Nebraska's official nickname is the Cornhusker State it still feels like the sensible decision. (If you're interested in learning some state nicknames, then Wikipedia provides this rather excellent map.)
6) Incredibly, I had been reading the Wikipedia page on umbrellas mere days previously, and even linked a few people to this diagram ("who knew umbrellas were so complicated?").
7) Currencies are one of those quizzing staples I have never been bored enough to try and learn (unlike umbrellas which are apparently so exciting I can read about them and forget about them in a matter of days).

The alternative questions

Question 2!

1) Which is the most Westerly European country that is not a member of the European Union?
2) What was the first name of the founder of the Ford Motor Company (pictured)?
3) Occlusion is a common treatment for the eye disorder amblyopia in which one eye's vision is impaired due to poor visual stimulation. What two word name is amblyopia more commonly known by?
4) Another consideration for the 'craft' question above, which secretive organization's motto is indocilis privata loqui, literally translating to "incapable [of] speaking [of] private [things]"?
5) Which state's nickname isn't, but should be, 'the Cornwall of the US', as it only shares a border with one other state?
6) You hopefully know that the song Umbrella was a hit for Barbadian singer Rihanna, but which rap chap does it also feature?
7) While currency questions are boring, it is nevertheless vital to know the ones that sound a tiny bit rude. If you wanted to spend dongs and colons, then, which two countries should you visit? (One point each.)

The answers

1) Iceland
2) Henry
3) Lazy eye
4) The Magic Circle
5) Maine (also the only one syllable state, fact fans)
6) Jay-Z
7) Vietnam (for dongs) and Costa Rica (for colons). (El Salvador's colon is now out of circulation, alas.)