New Scaratings

BLZBUB is sorry for the delay in publishing this recap. Let’s skip a theme and get right to the…

Worn-Up Round

1. This game of mental and physical skill was launched by Leslie Scott in the 1980’s: JENGA. {BLZBUB hopes he does not topple the team at a crucial moment.} 2. The scientific name of this fruit tree is Prunus Armeniaca or Armenian Plum: APRICOT. 3. David Muir is replacing this U.S. television icon in September 2014: DIANE SAWYER. 4. Argosy was a magazine that became popular for publishing: ADVENTURE STORIES. {Like when DUFF misses a question.} 5. “The ___ is a Harsh Mistress” is the title of an acclaimed Robert Heinlein book: MOON. {Sadly, the ‘Black Anus’ does not serve Blue Moon.} 6. ‘Shtetl’ is a term for small European towns that had a predominantly ___ population: JEWISH. 7. In Great Britain, Marmite is a brand name for a well-known: FOOD SPREAD. 8. Footvolley is a sport that combines aspects of beach volleyball and: SOCCOR. 9. The Emerald Ash Borer is an invasive species of: INSECT. {A misreading of the word after ‘emerald’ caused BLZBUB no ‘end’ of confusion.} 10. Bob Dylan called him ‘the Hipster Bebop Preacher Who Defied all Labels’: LORD BUCKLEY.
That was a good round, but not great, because we had egregious errors on WU 4 and 10.

Ground-down Round

1. The first English actor to be made a Peer of the Realm was: LAWRENCE OLIVIER. 2. Which person is *not* a sitting U.S. Senator: DAYTON MOORE. 3. Edgar Rice Burrough’s Barsoom is a science fictional version of: MARS. 4. A gallette is a flat, round or free-form: CRUSTY CAKE. 5. Erich von Manstein was a prominent military commander under: ADOLF HITLER. 6. Jookin, a type of dancing done to Crunk music, originated here: MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE. 7. Somaly Mom is a Cambodian activist in this international cause: ANTI-SEX TRAFFICING. 8. In private life, he was ‘Cump’ and to his soldiers he was ‘Uncle Billy’: WILLIAM T. SHERMAN. 9. A ___ suit is a type of one-piece long underwear: UNION. {As in, “We the piss-pots, in order to form a more perfect ‘union,’ suitable for nighttime wear…”.} 10. Khedive, a title given rulers in the Ottoman Empire, is roughly the equivalent of: VICEROY. {For Turkish, BLZBUB prefers Camel cigarettes.} 11. Cartagena of the Indies is a historic city located in: COLOMBIA. 12. The ___ Institute is a prestigious non-profit organization founded in 1950: ASPEN.

That round was brutal, but the team acquitted itself well. We missed on GD 1, 5 and 6, but otherwise figured out the answers before the saving third clue.

Scatology Round

S1. Non-fiction v FAMOUS GOLF COURSES
What is the term used to describe the 11th, 12th and 13th holes at Augusta National: AMEN CORNER. {KURGAN and SCOOTR made the shot.}

S2. U.S. HISTORY v European Geography
Former government worker Daniel Ellsberg was indicted for giving the ___ to the press: PENTAGON PAPERS. {SCOOTR scores again.}

S3. GENERAL SCIENCE v U.S. poets
Particulate matter is a kind of: AIR POLLUTION. {Many pre-calls hit within scoring range, but none were precise.}

S4. EUROPEAN GEOGRAPHY v non-fiction
The ‘Green Line’ separates this island country into two parts: CYPRUS. {BLZBUB makes the pre-call.}

S5. U.S. poets v U.S. HISTORY
It was created by the Judiciary Act of 1789: U.S. SUPREME COURT. {DUFF ruled on this one.}

S6. Famous golf courses v GENERAL SCIENCE
Bertram Boltwood was the first to measure the age of rocks by the decay of: URANIUM TO LEAD. {SCOOTR was ‘lead’ investigator on this one.}
Six for six is a nice outcome any week on this round.

Frightning Round

1. ‘La Bayadere’ or ‘The Temple Dancer’ is a famous 19th Century: BALLET. 2. A Basenji is a: DOG. 3. Singer-songwriter Nick Cave is from: AUSTRALIA. 4. La Floridita, a mixed drink, is made with Vermouth, Crème de Cacao, lime juice and: WHITE RUM. 5. Ernest Hemingway’s book ‘The Sun Also Rises’ gets its title from this book of the Bible: ECCLESIASTES. 6. Although its importance was not immediately clear, 1928 marked the discovery of: PENICILLIN. 7. ‘Le Champ’ is the French word for: FIELD

As will sometimes happen, the scores indicate some confusion on a couple of these questions; probably F 1 and 5. However the notes for this round make that the most likely conclusion.

Py-Ram-It Round

P1. Only one species of this bird is native to North America:
LARK. {SCOOTR narrowed it down to lark or Vireo. It’s a pity his ornithologist wife is out in the field this week.}

P2. Which Western city was named in 1868 after a Union General ?
RENO, NEVADA. {Some people got here by gambler’s luck.}

P3. Jacopo, Gentile and Giovanni ___ were a family of Renaissance Venetian painters: BELLINI. {DUFF and MEERA?}

P4. In the 1990’s a new species of hominids was discovered in the Middle Awash Valley of: ETHIOPIA. {After deliberation, BLZBUB managed to convince the team to put their trust in the wrong answer.}

P5. Misology is the hatred of: REASONING. {DUFF got this one.}

Phewww, that stinks of mediocrity. At the end of that round we had one box on 4 of 5 and seven on 3 of 5, followed by five on 2 of 5 correct. We’ll need a clean sweep on the last question to score well tonight.

FINAL TRAGEDY, on the Topic of: PLANTS

The Venus Flytrap, the most famous of the carnivorous plants, is native only to:

1. South America
2. The Mediterranean
3. The Southeast U.S.
4. Central Africa
5. Siberia

The order of the eliminations was 5, 2, 4 and 1, leaving #2, THE SOUTHEAST U.S., as the final answer. Unfortunately nobody remembered WKRP in Cincinnati, or we surely would have remembered that Venus Flytrap was from the U.S. South.

The dismal six top scores were 30767, 16447, 15810, 15599, 15342 and 15282, for an equally dismal 18, 207 average for the night. And thus you see why this recap was delayed. BLZBUB was in a brief period of mourning.

Congratulations to the usual wet-ware suspects on a game well played. And Fook da Borg!

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Oh my gawd, they killed
Ken Z.
You bastards!

The members of the team would especially like to see the altergory questions on NON-FICTION.

And yes, I do realize that many teams gravitate to the same categories as do the Ragged Rascals at the Black Anus. Still, there must be 'some' teams or rugged individuals who could jot down a note on the bar napkins.

Thank you for your support.

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}}}--( (x) (x) )--->
Oh my gawd, they killed
Ken Z.
You bastards!

As I didn't get to play, curious to see if the second famous golf courses question was as ridiculously easy as the first.

This is one of those final questions where the random order of elimination is of huge importance. And once again, that random order is fucking stupid.

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liljol, still residing in a humble lil abode in Buzztime's Backyard, San Diego County, in The Horribly Site-Poor Golden State, California...

<--805 NTN Buzztime sites visited as of 11/13/2018...

F CUBS!!!!! FBOSOX!!!!!

FPDRES!!!!! FCHGRS!!!!!

I regret that our team never picks the category "non-fiction," even though we live in the heart of the US publishing industry, and two of us are writers. Buzztime always chooses the most obscure titles for this category, at least in the few times we chose the category before deciding to abstain altogether.
XT

Thanks lil' west feeder!

Proud to say I've been to both courses, both pure Eden in totally different ways.

I've tried writing on bar napkins and it wasn't pretty. When I remember to do it beforehand, I take a small notepad and jot the Category Round questions and answers on it. And I need to get back to the habit of doing this.

Next week, one of the Categories is Meteorology! Considering the recent Topix on that category, I definitely plan on choosing that one both times that it appears.

-- RWM

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"...It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED...."

Against my wishes, our team did pick non-fiction for the first question. I did not record exact question (I was still reeling from those first two rounds - the hardest I can recall), but it was about a book called "Factory Man' that none of us had heard of, and the answer was 'furniture'. I had only 8200 points by that point (highest local score), so it looked bad for us, and we were getting ready to blame the four players who were not there, but the rest of the game was, surprisingly, not as hard for us, and we ended up making the top 50. Thefirst Eur. Geography question was as easy as the second: Germany and (Poland) are immediately north of the Czech Repoblic.

We would like to claim an extra 1000 points for question one of Countdown, for which NTN seemed to have the wrong answer. We picked Sir Henry Irving, who was knighted in 1895, well before Olivier, and we assume that that was what they meant by 'made a peer of the realm'.

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Wayne Neily
Tremont, Kings Co., N. S.

"What mighty contests rise from trivial things!" - Alexander Pope, 1712.

"Beauty is truth, and truth beauty", John Keats, 1820.

Olivier, in later years, was known as Lord Olivier, which meant he was part of the nobility. That is different from being knighted, which entitles you to be called "Sir."
xt