2. “What’s the most resilient parasite? An Idea. A single idea from the human mind can build cities. An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules. Which is why I have to use it.”
4. 66 clues leading to a theme 52 clues as dry +10 bonus questions (unrelated to theme) 6 clues as a sub-theme 8 clues on SVC Exhaustive list
5. Theme becomes progressively easier Questions might become progressively tougher All answers carry 1 point each (including bonuses)
6. +10 for getting the theme now (No questions asked, ha!). -10 for not. 1-10 (+8), 11-20 (+6), 21-30 (+4), 31-40 (+2), 41-52 (+1) Negatives of -4 (1-20), -2 (21-40), -1 (41-52) Raise your hand if you’ve got the theme
19. 5 Considered one of the signature tunes of the group, this song knocked The Beatles song Let It Beout of the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970. Identify the song and the group.
20. 5 ABC. The Jackson 5. The A.B.C. Murders (1936)
21. 6 English word derived from Latin word meaning “turn toward”. In cryptography, it denotes a malicious entity whose aim is to prevent the users of the cryptosystem from achieving their goal (primarily privacy, integrity and availability of data). In the world of Alice and Bob, examples of such characters include Eve, Mallory, Oscar and Trudy. Also the name of the tyrannical, but rarely seen, villain in the Bill Willingham comic book series Fables.
24. 6 Bonus: What is the real identity of the villain in Fables? The name by which we know him is a nickname for Giuseppe. He wears a yellow wig that looks like cornmeal mush (or polendina), and subsequently the people in the neighborhood call him Polendina, which greatly annoys him.
26. 7 In Scotland, this term refers to any rough grassy area between the sea and the land. The word itself is derived form an Anglo-Saxon word meaning “a ridge”. Later it was used to denote any common grassy area in a town and now refers to some specific locations. In Scotland, only 17% of such locations can truelybe represented by this word; the other major classifications being parkland (61%) and moorland (17%). What is the good word?
27. 7 Links (as in ‘golf links’). The Murder on the Links (1923)
28. 8 Name this rock climbing technique. It involves climbing between opposing rock faces, with the back and hands against one face, and the feet against the other face, or alternating between both. Takes its name from an architectural/construction element earliest seen in Roman bakeries.
31. 9 Officially the Calais-Mediterranée Express, it was a luxury French night express train which carried wealthy and famous passengers between Calais and the French Riviera from 1922. It was gradually replaced by TGV trains and made the last journey on December 9, 2007. It inspired a 1924 ballet of the same name, created by Serge Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, with a story by Jean Cocteau, costumes by Coco Chanel and a curtain painted by Pablo Picasso. Identify.
32. 9 The Blue Trainor Le Train Bleu. The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928)
33. 9 Bonus: Which sporting team, disbanded in 2007, shares its nickname with the previous answer?
34. 9 Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team or U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team.
35. 10 In the broadest sense, a ____ is a representative or substitute, anyone acting “in the person of” or agent for a superior. The Pope uses a title meaning the ____ of Jesus Christ. In Catholic canon law, a ____ is the representative of any ecclesiastic entity. The Romans had used the term to describe officials subordinate to the praetorian prefects. Dr. Charles Primrose held this position in one of the most popular novels of the 18th century. Which position? Also identify the name given to the residence of the people who occupy this position.
38. 11 One of the earliest techniques used in screenwriting, it follows an organization that dates back to Aristotle’s Poetics. It consists of the setup (of the location and characters), confrontation (with an obstacle), and resolution (culminating in a climax and a dénouement). Most of the other techniques are modifications of this. It has been used widely in theatre and opera. What?
40. In a 1802 presentation to the Askesian Society, Luke Howard, a British manufacturing chemist and an amateur meteorologist presented the classification system that we use even today. The main components were given Latin name meaning high, thin, puffy, precipitating and layer. Goethe even wrote the following lines in gratitude to him: “But Howard gives us with his clear mind The gain of lessons new to all mankind; That which no hand can reach, no hand can clasp He first has gained, first held with mental grasp.” What classification are we talking about? 12
41. 12 Clouds. (Alto, cirrus, cumulus, nimbus, stratus are the major components.) Death in the Clouds (1935)
42. 13 What name is given to the humid and verdant area of north-east Argentina, comprising the provinces of Misiones, Entre Ríos and Corrientes, primarily situated between the Paraná River and the Uruguay River? It is also home to the famous Iguazú Falls.
44. 14 This English idiom originated from the world of card games. It means “to be open and honest”, “to let someone know your position and interest openly” etc. Identify.
45. 14 Lay one’s cards on the table. Cards on the Table (1936)
46. 15 This 1985 Peter Weir movie helped generate lot of public interest in Amish culture. The script’s original title was Called Homewhich is the Amish term for death. Also ViggoMortensen’s feature film debut. Identify.
48. 16 The epigraph for a 1934 debut novel from which it takes its name. Identify the novel and author: “Death Speaks: There was a merchant in Baghdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture, now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to ____ and there Death will not
49. 16 find me. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in ____. -- W. Somerset Maugham”
50. 16 Appointment in Samarra by John O’Hara. Appointment with Death (1938)
51. 17 Connect Isaac Newton, PanditMadan Mohan Malaviya, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Conrad Hilton, Robert Ripley, Humphrey Bogart, Anwar Sadat, AtalBihari Vajpayee, Annie Lennox and Alastair Cook.
52. 17 Born on Christmas day. HerculePoirot’sChristmas (1938)
53. 18 Which 1970 movie takes its title from the following? FrédéricChopin’s Fantasy in F Minor Op. 49 and Prelude Opus 28, No. 4 in E Minor; Johann Sebastian Bach’s Chromatic fantasia and Fugue; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s E-flat Maj. Concerto K.271 and Fantasy in D Minor K.397
55. 19 Julius Caesar’s fire in the Alexandrian War, in 48 BCE The attack of Aurelian in the 3rd century CE The decree of Coptic Pope Theophilus in 391 CE The Muslim conquest in 642 CE or thereafter. Possible reasons for?
56. 19 Destruction of the Library of Alexandria. The Body in the Library (1942)
57. 20 An English word and a French word meaning “number, specifically a digit” owe their origins to the Arabic word for “(to be) empty”. The meaning/concept conveyed by the English word is perhaps more significant than any other word – at least, that’s what many Indians would like to claim. Identify the English word.
59. 20 Bonus: A literary character (first print appearance in 1953) based on Aleister Crowley adopted the French word as his name. He is first encountered as an inmate of the Dachau displaced persons camp in the U.S. zone of Germany in June 1945 and transferred to Alsace-Lorraine and Strasbourg three months later on a stateless passport. There he adopts the name because as he claims, he is “only a number on a passport”. Who?
62. 21 This class of chemical compounds consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. One such compound was first discovered as a component of the dye Prussian blue and the class takes it name from the Greek for “(dark) blue”. Also the name of a 2006 Kannada movie about the incidents that occurred in the peripheries of Bangalore after the assassins of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi stepped into the city. What?
64. 22 In 1996, the residents of the village of North Tarrytown in Westchester County, New York voted to change its name to honour an 1820 short story. The village cemetery is where many eminent personalities like Washington Irving, Andrew Carnegie, Walter P. Chrysler, Brooke Astor, Elizabeth Arden and Thomas J. Watson of IBM are buried. What is its present name?
74. 26 The two-pair poker hand of “aces and eights” gets its name from a legend that it was the five-card-draw hand held by a person, when he was murdered on August 2, 1876, in Saloon No. 10 at Deadwood, South Dakota. As per his biographer Joseph Rosa, “the accepted version is that the cards were the ace of spades, the ace of clubs, two black eights (clubs and spades), and the queen of clubs as the ‘kicker’”. What? Who?
75. 26 Dead man’s hand. Wild Bill Hickok. Dead Man’s Folly (1956)
76. 27 A literary character at a location which shares his name. The author based the character on a lone teddy bear he noticed on a shelf in a London store near this location on Christmas Eve 1956, which he bought as a present for his wife. Identify.
81. 29 If a member of the Felidae family is introduced to a group of members of the Columbidae family, it would upset them and cause a great deal of alarm. In simple English, which idiom am I referring to?
82. 29 Set a cat among the pigeons. Cat Among the Pigeons (1959)
83. 30 From Revelation 6:8 (The Seals): “And I looked, and behold ____ ____ ____: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.” Fill up with the help of Benjamin West’s depiction of the same.
87. 31 The Symphony No. 101 in D major is the ninth of the twelve so-called London Symphonies written by Joseph Haydn. It is popularly known as ____ ____ because of the ticking rhythm throughout the second movement. Fill up.
89. 32 These pirates operated between 1630s and 1730s. Their name from the French word meaning “to smoke meat”, from the hunters of wild oxen curing meat over an open fire. They transferred the skills which kept them alive into piracy. Their crews operated as a democracy: the captain was elected by the crew and they could vote to replace him. Who? In which sea did they primarily operate?
91. 33 His first name derives from Germanic for “bright raven”. His middle name is the doing of his father, who won money on a horse named so in the Grand National the day before he was born. His family name is believed to be a corruption (or phonetic translation) of a place name famous for an ingredient in Bloody Marys. Full name please.
93. 34 From William Blake’s Auguries of Innocence: “Every night and every morn, Some to misery are born, Every morn and every night, Some are born to sweet delight. Some are born to sweet delight, Some are born to ____ ____.” Fill up.
95. 35 Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of ____, notes that while “some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, whose original spelling was Samuin (pronounced sow-an or sow-in)”. The name is derived from Old Irish and means roughly “summer’s end”. Fill up.
97. 35 Bonus: It was created in 1978 by Tommy Lee Wallace from a Captain James T. Kirk mask purchased for $1.98. He “widened the eye holes and spray-painted the flesh a bluish white” to get the desired pale features of a human face and it truly was spooky looking. It didn’t look anything like William Shatner after the job was done since the “idea was to make him almost humorless, faceless — this sort of pale visage that could resemble a human or not”. What are we talking about?
102. 37 Originally meant the distributor of fortune, neither good nor bad, simply in due proportion to each according to what was deserved. Later came to suggest the resentment caused by any disturbance of this right proportion, the sense of justice which could not allow it to pass unpunished. Who?
104. 37 Bonus: This prose play, with the same name as the previous answer, was written shortly before the playwright’s death in 1896. It was considered so controversial by his relatives that they burned most of the manuscripts, except for three copies. The first surviving edition was published in Sweden in 2003. The story, loosely based on P.B. Shelley’s Roman tragedy The Cenci, is about “violence, sex, torture, deceit, forbidden lusts, revenge and religious fanaticism”. The first, and so far the only, production was at the Intima theatre in Stockholm in 2005. Identify the playwright.
106. 38 It has been observed that this species follow the same paths and even hand down information of directions, places, grounds etc. across generations. Each clan has a certain burial place, like many human communities, and always help the dying ones get back there if they are not killed first. These traits may be the origin of a certain proverb. Greeks had a similar proverb, but about camels. In an experiment reported in 1957, Professor B. Rensch of Munster University in Germany attempted to find the truth behind this and had reasonable success with a 5-year old specimen of the species. What proverb?
107. 38 An elephant never forgets. Elephants Can Remember (1972)
109. 39 Routes of The Orient Express. Murder on the Orient Express (1934)
110. 40 From Edward FitzGerald’s translation of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: “____ writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.” Fill up.
114. Anyone going for getting the theme now? +2 / -2 From now on, it’s +1 / -1
115. 41 This road junction in the West End of London, where seven streets converge, takes its name from the pillar in the centre. It was a byword for urban poverty in the early 20th century, but is today a prosperous, largely-commercial, neighbourhood. Identify.
118. 42 Complete this quote by Brutus from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (Act IV): “There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which ____ ____ ____ ____, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.”
119. 42 Taken at the flood. Taken at the Flood (1948)
120. 43 From the poem The Lady of Shalott by Alfred, Lord Tennyson: “Out flew the web and floated wide- ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____; “The curse is come upon me,” cried The Lady of Shalott.” Fill up.
121. 43 The mirror crack’dfrom side to side. The Mirror Crack’dfrom Side to Side (1962)
122. 44 From Shakespeare’s Macbeth (Act IV, Scene I): HECATE O well done! I commend your pains; And every one shall share i’ the gains; And now about the cauldron sing, Live elves and fairies in a ring Enchanting all that you put in. Music and a song: “Black spirits, etc.” [Exit HECATE.] Second Witch __(Line 1)__, __(Line 2)__.
123. 44 [Knocking.] Open, locks, Whoever knocks! Enter MACBETH. MACBETH How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags! What is’tyou do? ALL A deed without a name. What is (Line 1)?
124. 44 By the pricking of my thumbs. By the Pricking of My Thumbs (1968)
125. 44 Bonus: This 1962 novel originated in 1955 when the author suggested to his friend Gene Kelly that they collaborate on a movie for Kelly to direct. He offered his 1948 short story The Black Ferrisas an 80-page outline treatment. When Kelly was unable to obtain financial backing for the movie, he expanded the treatment to novel length. Identify the novel which takes its title from (Line 2) and its author.
127. 45 In this British children’s game, a sort of follow-the-leader type of verse is used. “____ ____ ____” “How did she die?” “Down on one knee, just like I!” Fill up.
131. 46 From the poem Gates of Damascus by James Elroy Flecker: “Four great gates has the city of Damascus And four Great Wardens, on their spears reclining, All day long stand like tall stone men And sleep on the towers when the moon is shining. This is the song of the East Gate Warden When he locks the great gate and smokes in his garden. _____ ____ ____, the Desert Gate, Disaster's Cavern, Fort of Fear, The Portal of Baghdad am I, and Doorway of Diarbekir.” Fill up.
133. 47 In the novel The Reptile Room, book 2 of A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, the character of Sunny Baudelaire is asked to watch the door for anyone that tries to enter the Reptile Room. She uses the made-up word “____” as a substitute for the more common “Roger!” to mean “message received and understood.” Fill up.
138. 49 Iron Curtain. “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an ‘iron curtain’ has descended across the Continent.” – Winston Churchill Curtain (1975)
139. 50 From Act II, Scene IV of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night: “Come away, come away, death, And in ____ ____ let me be laid; Fly away, fly away breath; I am slain by a fair cruel maid. My shroud of white, stuck all with yew, O, prepare it! My part of death, no one so true Did share it.” Fill up.
141. 51 From the book of Ecclesiastes 6: There is an ____ which I have seen ____ ____ ____, and it is common among men: A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease. Fill up.
147. 1 Went out to dine and choked his little self; sat up very late and overslept himself; travelled in Devon and said he’d stay there; chopped up sticks and chopped himself in half; played with a hive and was stung by a bumblebee; went in for law and got in Chancery; went out to sea and was swallowed by a red herring; walked in the zoo and was hugged by a big bear; sat in the sun and got frizzled up; left all alone, went out and hanged himself. What?
148. 1 Ten Little Indians / Injuns / Soldiers / Niggersor And Then There Were None. Ten Little Niggers (1939)
149. 1 Ten little Indian boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine. Nine little Indian boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were eight. Eight little Indian boys travelling in Devon; One said he’d stay there and then there were seven. Seven little Indian boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in half and then there were six. Six little Indian boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were five. Five little Indian boys going in for law; One got in Chancery and then there were four. Four little Indian boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were three. Three little Indian boys walking in the zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were two. Two Little Indian boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was one. One little Indian boy left all alone; He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.
150. 2 One theory says that it was devised as a fun way to teach children how to count. Another theory says that it refers to lacemaking and other ‘working’ class roles from the 16th, 17th or 18th century. The version we commonly know ends with a reference to an overweight bird, while the complete version ends with a reference to an empty plate. What?
151. 2 One, Two, Buckle My Shoe. One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (1940)
152. 2 One, two, / Buckle my shoe; Three, four, / Knock at the door; Five, six, / Pick up sticks; Seven, eight, / Lay them straight: Nine, ten, / A big fat hen; Eleven, twelve, / Dig and delve; Thirteen, fourteen, / Maids a-courting; Fifteen, sixteen, / Maids in the kitchen; Seventeen, eighteen, / Maids a-waiting Nineteen, twenty, / My plate’s empty.
153. 3 Usually counted on a person’s toes, starting with the big toe and ending with a tickle. The sequence is: went to market, stayed at home, had roast beef, had none and went “Wee! Wee! Wee!” all the way home. What?
155. 3 This little piggy went to market. This little piggy stayed at home. This little piggy had roast beef, This little piggy had none. And this little piggy went “Wee! Wee! Wee!” all the way home.
156. 4 Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven (1582–1661) was a Scottish soldier in Dutch, Swedish and Scottish service. He rose to become a commander of the Scottish army and fought for the Solemn League and Covenant, which bound both the Scottish and English parliaments together against the Royalist forces in the Three Stuart Kingdoms. His unabashed support of the Covenant inspired what?
157. 4 There was a Crooked Man. Crooked House (1949)
158. 4 There was a crooked man and he walked a crooked mile, He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile. He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse, And they all lived together in a little crooked house.
159. 5 Both these paintings refer to the same this. A 1964 novel by A. J. Cronin and its 1969 sequel take their titles from the same. Identify both novels.
161. 5 Sing a Song of Sixpenceand A Pocket Full of Rye. A Pocket Full of Rye (1953)
162. 5 Sing a song of sixpence, A pocket full of rye. Four and twenty blackbirds, Baked in a pie. When the pie was opened, The birds began to sing; Wasn't that a dainty dish, To set before the king? The king was in his counting house, Counting out his money; The queen was in the parlour, Eating bread and honey. The maid was in the garden, Hanging out the clothes; When down came a blackbird And pecked off her nose.
163. 6 By one account, it was written by Oliver Goldsmith. Another says that it originated with Westmoreland shepherds in the 18th century since they have similar sounding words for the numbers 8, 9 and 10. One talks about botanical origins: one part refers to a tree whose wood was used to make baseball bats earlier; another part refers to a nuisance weed whose leaves can be used as an astringent. What?