1. Mostly Harmless
A quiz about life, the
universe and everything.
(But mostly just cricket)

2. Part 1
Long Visual Connect

3. 1. +8/-41. +8/-4

4. 2. +8/-42. +8/-4

5. 3. +6/-33. +6/-3

6. 4. +6/-34. +6/-3

7. 5. +4/-25. +4/-2

8. 6. +4/-26. +4/-2

9. 7. +27. +2

10. 8. +28. +2

11. 1. Rank I?
Indeed! As all of us who live(d) on top of the hill that is
home for 2 years know, food is one of the biggest fights.
Attitudes range from resignation to outrage, and
MessComm invariably finds itself at the receiving end of
brickbats, and hardly (if ever!), bouquets.
...And thus, out of necessity, I took to asking the chettas &
chottus at the NC for a mix of ______, chicken and a few
other choice ingredients. Now, this was sating my hunger,
satisfying my craving for meat (and egg) and leaving
nothing for the circling vultures.”
Someone talking about a dish he created. What?
11

12. 2.
•The Latin neuter noun is from "triple” "way",
meaning "a place where three ways meet".
Facts were written on boards at a junction of
three roads and hence the present meaning of
this word.
•Also depicted in the Atharva logo. What word?
12

13. 3. Fourplay
"In the scorebook of the epic eight-day fifth Test of 1928-29
against England in Melbourne won by Australia by five wickets,
there is a "problem" boundary in the final stages, when ______
was batting with Jack Ryder. The relevant sections of Bill
Ferguson's original score are illustrated: there are four runs
attributed to Ryder that are in the wrong place in both the
batting section of the score and in the bowling section (Maurice
Tate's 35th over). There is no doubt that a recording error of
some kind has occurred. So where do these runs belong?"
According to this theory, this boundary belongs to the batsman
batting alongside Ryder which would have created a nice
statistic. What?
13

14. 4.
Before the advent of LCD, most computer monitors
were based on cathode ray tubes (CRTs). When the
same image is displayed on a CRT for long periods of
time, the properties of the exposed areas of phosphor
coating on the inside of the monitor gradually and
permanently change, eventually leading to a darkened
shadow or "ghost" image.
To prevent this from happening the eponymously
named ____ _____ was invented. Although, quite
unnecessary in this day and age, HRs still exploit this
facility on modern day computers. What?
14

15. 5. Figure it out
•Independent of fat percentage, weight or
width, female body shapes are categorised in
into one of four elementary geometric shapes -
they are Banana, Apple, Pear and
_____________
15

16. 6.
Had “Sports Illustrated” existed in 1900, its swimsuit issue would not
have been especially titillating. Back then, the standard lady’s swimsuit
wasn’t much different than her everyday clothes. By World War II,
with fabric in short supply, slightly more revealing two-piece numbers
were considered okay. But post-war? A couple of Frenchmen sensed
the world was ready to loosen up. The first of them — one Jacques
Heim — designed a two-piece so tiny he called it X
But Heim was one-upped by his countryman, Louis Reard. On July 5th,
1946, he unveiled an even tinier suit: “The Y” Named after a Pacific
island atoll where, four days earlier, a nuclear bomb had been tested.
Reard claimed he had “split the X.”
X,Y?
16

17. 7.
Writer Gordon Bowke, who co-founded the company in 1971,
originally wanted to name the company Peqoud, after the
doomed whaleship in Moby-Dick. He suggested the name to his
then-creative partner, Terry Heckler, who responded: 'No one's
going to drink Pee-quod!' Finally, they decided Captain Ahab's
first mate ________ would be the name of the then-unknown
brand.
It was not the only inspiration the entrepreneurs found in the
unusual name. It also inspired the company’s famed logo, which
features a Siren from Greek Mythology. As the story goes, Sirens
lured sailors to shipwreck off the coast of an island in the South
Pacific, also called _____ Island.
17

18. 8. Lal salaam sakhave!
Originally, the creators of this 1988 movie had envisaged it with
the lead role being a character named Ali Imran (played later on
by Mohan Lal in the film Moonnam Mura (Third Degree)).
However, the actor who played this role suggested a different
avatar for the character - giving him a cultural identity that
strongly resonated with trait of intelligence (and possibly the
potential for non-veg jokes).
Although the creators were initially sceptical of such a move, the
actor’s suggestion turned out to be a masterstroke. Identify the
character, actor and the movie.
18

19. 9.
General Sir Charles James Napier, was a general of the British
Empire and the British Army's Commander-in-Chief in India. Lord
Ellenborough's policy led Napier to _____ Province, for the
purpose of quelling the insurrection of the Muslim rulers who
had remained hostile to the British Empire following the First
Anglo-Afghan War. His orders had been only to put down the
rebels, but he conquered the whole Province, thus greatly
exceeding his mandate. Napier despatched to his superiors the
short, notable message, "Peccavi", the Latin for "_ ____ ______"
which was in many ways the perfect pun.
What was the message?
19

20. 10. What’s unique about these
20

21. 11. Proceed sideways
“In 1971, I suggested to Shell Oil that they should
consider drilling oil wells which proceeded sideways
when the right depth was reached. Today most oil-
wells are drilled exactly like that. Such wells yield
between three and six times as much oil. There had
been nothing wrong with traditional oil wells. But it
was a matter of challenging something that was not a
problem. I am not claiming that the change in drilling
wells was a direct result of my suggestion - I have no
way of proving that. It is a historical fact, however, that
I made the suggestion in 1971.”
Says who?
21

22. 12. Steffi is an angel… Hugh is the devil
22

23. 13. Question not found13. Question not found
404 error messages for which
website?

24. 14. Daring young men on the flying trapeze
•Things named because of X
– The programming language by Guido van Rossum. X
references are often found in sample code created for
that language.
– In 1985, a fossil of a previously unknown species of
gigantic prehistoric snake from the Miocene
discovered in Australia was named “X”oides
riversleighensis.
– The term "spam" in reference to unsolicited email.
– An English bowler (Nah, just kidding)
24

25. 15.
______ is the registered trademark for a small
round sweet consisting of a soft chocolate
centre with a hard covering of orange flavoured,
red coloured confectionery. The name derives
from an orange of the same name. The sweet is
part of Australian and New Zealand cultural
folklore. Its use in cricket comes perhaps from
the Australian continent, where commentators
use ______ metaphorically to describe
something that’s a real treat, a precious
occurrence.
25

26. 16. Dare to think beyond16. Dare to think beyond
• The goal of the puzzle is
to link all 9 dots using
four straight lines or
less, without lifting the
pen and without tracing
the same line more
than once.
• What phrase originates
out of the solution to
this puzzle

27. 17. Connect the dots17. Connect the dots