Comments on: Annual Hard as Nails quiz

Annual Hard as Nails quiz

biffa — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 02:43:40 -0800

King William's College Quiz. Mefites, your mission: Collectively solve the hardest 100 year old annual quiz around. (Be warned, I think they're getting wiser to the appliance of google-fu science.)

By: biffa

biffa — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 02:48:32 -0800

See previous years threads: 2002, 2003 and 2004

By: zardoz

zardoz — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 02:53:22 -0800

Wow. "Difficult" isn't even the word for it. It's like some NYT crossword clues: so astoundingly obscure that researching the answer is an absolute necessity. I like to think I have a lot of trivia jammed in my head, but...wow.

By: NinjaPirate

NinjaPirate — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 03:16:41 -0800

I always look forward to this time of year when I can be reminded of how good some pub quiz teams are. And how crap mine is. Q. "What was the result of arthropod larvae appearing en route for Tendra?" A. "... anyone else for a pint?"

By: electricinca

electricinca — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 03:25:44 -0800

Section 17 is simplified if you know they are all locations in Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. Mycroft Holmes had rooms in Montagu Street, close to the British Museum. and Mrs. Oakshott, of 117 Brixton Road raised the Goose in The Blue Carbuncle.

By: eriko

eriko — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 04:58:48 -0800

Almost all of the sections are themed -- it's a hint, if you can figure out the theme.

By: eriko

eriko — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 05:05:28 -0800

And, in that realm, section 11 is about Popes. Google up "Cadaver Synod" for the macabre one.

By: darkstar

darkstar — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 05:34:31 -0800

I will do my MetaFilterian duty and contribute an answer: Answer to #5. Robert Koch won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medecine in 1905 for discovering Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes tuberculosis (TB), some 23 years earlier. Okay MeFi, there's a few more to go! :)

By: athenian

athenian — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 05:36:16 -0800

11.7 Leo X (Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici) - alleged to have said on taking office "God has given us the Papacy now let us enjoy it".

By: athenian

athenian — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 05:41:54 -0800

11.5: Pope Formosus, put on trial posthumously by his successor Stephen VII in 900ish

By: verstegan

verstegan — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 05:42:21 -0800

This is as far as I can get without Googling: 1.2. 'Little red flower' must be the Scarlet Pimpernel, so I presume Baroness Orczy's novel was first published in 1905. 1.8. Bosie = Lord Alfred Douglas, so this must be Wilde's 'De Profundis'. 2.2 is easy: the Owl and the Pussycat. 3.1. T.E. Brown? 3.2. Betjeman? 4.2. Ruth; Handel. 4.3. Daniel; Walton. 5.5. The 'English Hippocrates' is William Harvey, so I suppose the answer is the circulation of the blood. But I can't work out the theme of this section. 6.1. Personification 6.3. Oxymoron 6.4. Anaphora 6.5. Apophasis 6.7. Chiasmus 6.8. Alliteration 6.9. Aposiopesis 6.10. Litotes 8.2. Chatsworth 8.3. Woolworth's 8.4. Molesworth 8.8. Wordsworth? 15.9. Marble Arch? (I guess these are all London Underground stations.) 16.5. The Red Barn. (I guess these are all associated with particular colours.) 18.7. Darwin's tortoise 18.10. Sir John Mills

By: darkstar

darkstar — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 05:44:16 -0800

Er...that's Section !, #5: Robert Koch. Section 16 appears to be fiction. Some answers: Section 16, #6: Lilias Redgauntlet, in Scott's Redgauntlet Section 16, #7: The Red Queen, in Through the Looking Glass. Section 16, #10: Little Red Riding-Hood.

By: darkstar

darkstar — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 05:45:10 -0800

Er...Section 16 evidently has a "Red" theme. :)

By: darkstar

darkstar — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 05:49:07 -0800

medecine--->medicine Gads, French is ruining my English orthography.

By: athenian

athenian — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 05:52:58 -0800

Wow, impressive verstegan. I think section 15 must be tube stations, because Reynier's defeat was at Maida in Calabria (whence Maida Vale).

By: JanetLand

JanetLand — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 05:53:57 -0800

I got one.

By: Biblio

Biblio — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 05:55:15 -0800

2.7 David Copperfield and Agnes

By: The White Hat

The White Hat — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 05:56:08 -0800

18.6: Bill Frist

By: The White Hat

The White Hat — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 05:57:12 -0800

ooh! 6.2: Tmesis!

By: Biblio

Biblio — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 06:05:00 -0800

17.7 Graham and McFarlane

By: casarkos

casarkos — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 06:05:30 -0800

5.2 mushrooms, Marasmius oreades 5.7 St. Elmo's Fire 5.9 oysters maybe? 16.1 arsenic ore

By: casarkos

casarkos — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 06:07:11 -0800

on preview: if section 16 has a "colors" theme, realgar is what makes white in fireworks.

By: verstegan

verstegan — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 06:07:54 -0800

4:9 Exodus; Weill 16:1 Red arsenic 16:2 Red Colin 16:3 Molotov 16:6 Redgauntlet 16:7 The Red Queen 16:8 Red Cotton Night-Cap Country 16:10 Red Riding-Hood

By: Biblio

Biblio — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 06:08:08 -0800

17. 8 Dr. Hill Barton aka Dr. Watson

By: Biblio

Biblio — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 06:10:19 -0800

17.2 Jabez Wilson

By: nebulawindphone

nebulawindphone — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 06:48:12 -0800

6.1 isn't just personification. More precisely, it's Metonymy. Section ten looks like it's all foods named after cities. 10.8 describes a salad Niçoise, so I suppose the answer is Nice.

By: darkstar

darkstar — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 06:55:23 -0800

My research indicates the answer to 16.4 is Bessie Coleman. The argument: 1. A brantail is a bird also called a redtail. 2. "The Redtails" was a nickname Allies gave to the Tuskekee Airmen, because of the red paint jobs on their vertical stabilizers. 3. Bessie Coleman was the first ever African American woman to become an airplane pilot, and the first black licensed pilot in the world. 4. Salopians are historians, after the Salopian Family Historians.

By: darkstar

darkstar — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 06:56:10 -0800

*Tuskegee (gee whiz)

By: darkstar

darkstar — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 07:02:12 -0800

And in an unexpectedly modern twist, the answer to 16.9 seems to be The Red Evil Pig, from the video game Tomba! Which completes the red-themed Section 16.

By: biffa

biffa — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 07:11:46 -0800

I think you're overthinking there darkstar, I think the theme for that section is red ..........., for example, realgar is red orpiment, Colin Campbell of Glenure is Red Colin, I would guess the answer is just redtail or redstart both of which are alternative names for the brantail, which is native to the British county of Shropshire (abbreviated to Salop).

By: darkstar

darkstar — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 07:13:21 -0800

But for those last two, I used google.

By: darkstar

darkstar — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 07:14:43 -0800

biffa, that sounds good, too!

By: biffa

biffa — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 07:15:37 -0800

Oops, should have looked more at the preview. Is the red theme for Molotov just that Molotov was a red?

By: raedyn

raedyn — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 07:16:58 -0800

I always look forward to this time of year when I can be reminded of how good some pub quiz teams are. And how crap mine is. - NinjaPirate Mine is crap, too. But the pub we go to supplies a free round of crap beer to the team that comes in last place. We aren't quite crap enough to come in last, and when we DO know an answer we're so damn pleased with ourselves we just can't lie in order to win free beer. Good times.

By: biffa

biffa — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 07:40:19 -0800

It's also worth remembering that this quiz is set for schoolchildren, and by the time they go back after xmas they are expected to know the answers to all these questions.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 07:50:47 -0800

1:10 could be Mahler's premier of Kindertotenliede. (given that the blue bell referenced in 1:1 is to Cecil Sharp's printing of the song Blue Bell in the Journal of Folk-Song Society in 1905.)

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 07:52:26 -0800

2.2 looks like the Owl and the Pussycat.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 07:56:51 -0800

The answer to the Smedleyman quiz is: Should have read all the comments first, particulary verstegan's. I'll rage impotently and quietly now. *glowers at self*

By: verstegan

verstegan — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 07:56:57 -0800

1:7 The Potemkin mutiny 1:10 The Merry Widow 8:5 Bosworth 15:6 Fairlop 15:10 Angel

By: BuffaloBandit

BuffaloBandit — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 07:59:45 -0800

16.3 ("Molotov Cocktail") doesn't seem to fit with the "red" theme, unless Molotov means red in some other language. Maybe the answer has something to do with the Finnish use of Molotov cocktails against the Red Army. Just a thought.

By: Miko

Miko — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 08:11:15 -0800

6.1 Hyperbole 6.3 Oxymoron 6.5 Apophasis 6.7 Diacope 6.8 Alliteration 6.9 Aposiopesis 6.10 Litotes

By: Miko

Miko — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 08:12:17 -0800

Oops -- 6.1 is indeed metonymy, and more information would be needed to know whether or not it is also hyperbole.

By: darkstar

darkstar — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 08:13:43 -0800

I don't know of any school age child in the States that would have studied Scott's Redgauntlet, nor know that Shropshire is abbreviated Salop or that redtails are indigenous to that county, for example. So, some of these may rely on more British trivia familiarity. Which, as the quiz is from King Williams College, is perhaps to be expected.

By: Miko

Miko — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 08:24:55 -0800

And 6.7 = Chiasmus, correct. I am schooled. Now, the 7 series may well be stories with "Tale" in the title. For instance, I think: 7.3 A Rat's Tale 7.9 The Tell-Tale Heart.

By: Miko

Miko — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 08:31:01 -0800

Theme of 9 appears to be viniculture; 9.2 could be "Claret".

By: darkstar

darkstar — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 08:34:29 -0800

7.7 The Little Match Girl, by Hans Christian Andersen.

By: JPD

JPD — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 08:36:44 -0800

10.1 Vichy 10.2 Chantilly 10.3 Caen 10.8 Nice 10.4 is def some town in Burgundy.

By: JPD

JPD — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 08:42:40 -0800

10.4 is Lyon - not quite Burgundy

By: zeoslap

zeoslap — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 08:49:04 -0800

14.9 Yellow Banana

By: aardvarkratnik

aardvarkratnik — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 08:49:05 -0800

9.1 Hogshead 9.2 Champagne 9.7 Clicquot - allegedly

By: JPD

JPD — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 08:54:03 -0800

10.10 is Pezenas

By: darkstar

darkstar — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 09:00:15 -0800

9.1 A hogshead could fill 25 salamanzars, and perhaps just a bit more... 9.3 Bubbles (i.e., in Champagne). On preview: DRAT!

By: infidelpants

infidelpants — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 09:06:25 -0800

15.7 is Vauxhall, I'm pretty sure. (all that Mornington Crescent isn't really helping me here.)

By: JPD

JPD — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 09:08:00 -0800

15.6 Ladbroke Grove?

By: infidelpants

infidelpants — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 09:29:42 -0800

7.8 H.C. Andersen's The Tinder-box. 18.9 Admiral Lord Nelson, I think. This was the 200th anniversary of Trafalgar, wasn't it?

By: Alison

Alison — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 09:54:48 -0800

16.5 Red Barn

By: Alison

Alison — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 09:56:01 -0800

16.6 Redgauntlet?

By: Flitcraft

Flitcraft — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 09:57:33 -0800

16:2 Red Colin Colin Campbell of Glenure is Colin Roy (ruadh), 'Red Colin' in Gaelic tradition, but he is best known as the Red Fox from R. L. Stevenson's 'Kidnapped', I would think that is the answer they want here.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 11:10:01 -0800

The other day I was at the grocery store and the checker was unable to identify any of these. And no, she wasn't new...and to make matters worse, the checker next to her didn't know either.

By: Sparx

Sparx — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 12:42:52 -0800

wgp: Ah, the ancient invocation of the gods of chaos. Personally - I was just glad I knew who Bosie was, so I understood a question. Thanks Dave Sim.

By: verstegan

verstegan — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 13:58:13 -0800

4:6 Song of Solomon; Boyce 4:8 Lamentations; Tallis 8:6 Tamworth 8:7 Winkworth 12: these all sound like the names of ships, but I can't get any further than that 18:4 The tree in Kent County Cricket Ground blew down

By: kenko

kenko — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 14:15:07 -0800

I swear I know 6.6, I just can't remember its name. Fuck!

By: kenko

kenko — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 14:18:04 -0800

Pleonasm.

By: electricinca

electricinca — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 15:09:00 -0800

I think 7:9 Princess and the Pea

By: electricinca

electricinca — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 16:10:35 -0800

I think the theme of section 12 is the names of boats or ships in the novels of Alistair MacLean. 12:1 The Guns Of Navaronne 12:4 When Eight Bells Toll 12:5 Ice Station Zebra 12:7 Bear Island Annoyingly even with the power of Google I can't get the others.

By: Protocols of the Elders of Awesome

Protocols of the Elders of Awesome — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 17:30:00 -0800

It's also worth remembering that this quiz is set for schoolchildren, and by the time they go back after xmas they are expected to know the answers to all these questions. No they're not. It's extremely rare for the schoolkids to get a good mark.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Sat, 24 Dec 2005 00:14:39 -0800

10.4 is Lyon - not quite Burgundy posted by JPD at 8:42 AM PST on December 23 I think Paris. 10.5 Pithiviers 10.6 Crécy? 10.7 Chablis

By: StephenB

StephenB — Sat, 24 Dec 2005 02:50:47 -0800

Hello all. The theme to section 5 is things named after saints. 5.1 St Mark's fly (a bibionid) 5.2 St George's Mushroom (which grows in rings) 5.3 St Cuthbert's ducks (another name for the eider, of down fame) 5.4 St Anthony's fire (another name for erysipelas, Greek 'red skin') 5.5 St Vitus' dance (decribed by Thomas Sydenham) 5.6 No idea 5.7 St Elmo's fire 5.8 St Baldred's Boat and St Baldreds Cradle (two geographical features in Scotland) 5.9 coquilles St-Jacques (scallops) 5.10 No idea - there must be hundreds of flowers named after saints.

By: Devils Slide

Devils Slide — Sat, 24 Dec 2005 03:55:13 -0800

I consider such an easy quiz an insult to my intelligence and refuse to provide the obvious answers. Give me one that's not designed for 11 year olds./upturned nose

By: bright cold day

bright cold day — Sat, 24 Dec 2005 04:12:49 -0800

> > It's also worth remembering that this quiz is set for schoolchildren, and by the time they go back after xmas they are expected to know the answers to all these questions. > No they're not. It's extremely rare for the schoolkids to get a good mark. Hmm ... I wonder if any of them read Metafilter?

By: Lebannen

Lebannen — Sat, 24 Dec 2005 10:52:34 -0800

9.10 = Nebuchadnezzar, I think. 7.8 are dogs with eyes the size of dinnerplates, something, and towers, encountered by a soldier who climbed into a hollow tree at the behest of some old lady who wanted ... a snuffbox? something? ... aha. The story is Hans Christian Andersen's The Tinder Box. Posting now before someone else can, because I think the other three or so that I could get w/o cheating or effort have already been claimed...

By: tallus

tallus — Sat, 24 Dec 2005 11:11:52 -0800

9's are champagne related 9.2 is Cristal (supposedly because of tzarist fears of assasination:the bottle is clear there is no dimple in the bottom of it so no bonb could be concealed). 9.10 is a Nebuchadnezzar 17 comes from Sherlock Holmes 1.Ferguson and Muirhead 2. Jabez Wilson 3.Sam Brewer 4.Doctor Percy Trevelyan 5.Mr. Windibank 6. Holmes 7. Graham and McFarlane 8.Dr. Hill Barton (an alias of Watson) 9. Stimson & co 10. Mrs Oakshott

By: Lebannen

Lebannen — Sat, 24 Dec 2005 14:58:47 -0800

I think 7 is stories by Hans Christian Andersen, yes? So look away if it's cheating to give answers that I don't know off the top of my head, but I think 7.4 is The China Shepherdess and the Chimneysweep and 7.5 is The Happy Family.

By: aws17576

aws17576 — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 23:56:48 -0800

I like how 7.9 could equally well describe The Tell-Tale Heart or The Princess and the Pea. It all depends which meaning of "pulse" you consider (and what the category theme is). Anyway, 6.1 is metonymy, but more specifically, it's synecdoche!

By: aws17576

aws17576 — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 23:57:53 -0800

Ha, first post in three days. You know, I saw "December 24" and thought, "Well, that's just yesterday..." I think I need some more egg nog.

By: normy

normy — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 12:37:43 -0800

The Guardian now has the answers.