New Scaratings

The game this week would feature the triumphant return of one of our regulars who has been out battling cancer. Welcome back to HOTAIR, a balloonist and New Mexico state employee. The team would be 14 brains strong and running 22 boxes for the night. It would be a game where almost everyone on the team would offer a timely answer in support of our score.

BLZBUB loves this kind of game, mainly because it means we even have a fighting chance against those “god-damned-pink-fuzzy-venomous animule” questions. Occasionally, it even helps with opera questions.

To illustrate this, BLZBUB will follow each question’s answer with the handle of the team-mate making the call first. Oh and hey, if you don’t see your name, it’s not because you didn’t call it. It’s because you didn’t call it LOUD enough, damn you.

Worn-up Round

1. Chlorophyll is a type of: PIGMENT. {JAX} 2. What did Les Paul call his prototypical electric guitar? BLACK BEAUTY. {KURGAN (late)} 3. Which country led the world in executions last year? CHINA. {DUFF} 4. The Nile River’s two main tributaries are the ___ Nile and the ___ Nile. BLUE – WHITE. {CHILL/BLZBUB} 5. ‘Word Wars’ is a 2004 documentary film about: COMPETITIVE SCRABBLE. {DUFF} 6. Meningitis is a/an ___ disease: NEUROLOGICAL. {DUFF} 7. Traditionally, Arbor Day is celebrated in ___ in the United States: APRIL. {MINRVA} 8. Which cast member of the original ‘Star Trek’ series passed away earlier this month? LEONARD NIMOY. {Geek, not Greek, chorus.} 9. Valkyrie Dome, also called Dome Fiji, is located here: ANTARCTICA. {Anybody? Anybody? Beuler?} 10. John Reed’s ‘Ten Days That Shook the World’ focuses on this event: BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION. {DUFF}
Other than WU 9 and what were effectively 2-way splits on WUs 2 and 7, the team powered through this round.

Ground-Down Round

1. March is ___ History Month in the United States: WOMEN’S. {MEERA/JAX} 2. Camisado is a military term meaning: SURPRISE ATTACK. {We’re still waiting on Beuler.} 3. ‘Queen: The Story of an American Family’ is a book by: ALEX HALEY. {Beuler? Anyone?} 4. What kind of animal is a rook? BIRD. {Chorus} 5. Which thing listed is a cryptid? LOCH NESS MONSTER. {BLZBUB, a fellow cryptid.} 6. Epirus is a historic region shared by: GREECE & ALBANIA. {CHILL/DUFF} 7. Born in New York City in 1931, composer and writer Mary Rodgers was the daughter of: RICHARD RODGERS. {CHILL} 8. Anton Chighur is the main antagonist in this novel: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. {DUFF} 9. ‘Bromus’ is a genus of: GRASSES. {JAX} 10. The Ob River, one of the world’s longest, is located in: SIBERIA. {BLZBUB} 11. Hedgehogs share a distant ancestry with this member of the family soricidae: SHREWS. {KURGAN} 12. A Brownie is a hobgoblin or household spirit in ___ folklore: SCOTISH. {KURGAN, pushing that whole ‘The Highlander’ thing to its limit.}

Well GD 2 and 3 slowed us down, but the train regained speed through the rest of the round.

Scatology Round

S1. HUMAN ANATOMY v Icelandic sagas
The alimentary canal of the human body extends a total of about: 30 FEET. {We were just totally uncertain.}

S2. BEETHOVEN v World geography
Beethoven composed a total of __ overtures for his opera ‘Fidelio’: FOUR. {Most people thought it had to be three, but it was four.}

S3. GEMSTONES v black spirituals
___ is a feldspar with an opalescent luster: MOONSTONE. {CROEM! Good call.}

S4. WORLD GEOGRAPHY v human anatomy
The Arabian Peninsula contains the entirety of exactly ___ nations: SEVEN. {HEBEGB/CROEM saved our butts from choosing ‘five.’}

S5. Black spirituals v BEETHOVEN
Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony is called the: PASTORALE. {KURGAN}

S6. Icelandic Sagas v GEMSTONES
The rarest garnet is the ___ garnet: BLUE. {Beuler, again?}

That was not our best performance for this round, being saved by the third clue on S1, 2 and 6. At least there was no uncertainty on three of the six queries.

Frightening Round

1. Sanibel Island is a popular resort area in this state: FLORIDA. {PANCHO, who has a condo in the area, made this call.} 2. Green Anjou, Packham and Comice are three varieties of: PEARS. 3. After writing ‘From Here to Eternity’ James Jones authored: SOME CAME RUNNING. {An ugly 2-way, but DUFF called the right book.} 4. What city hosted last week’s SXSW Tech and Entertainment Festival? AUSTIN. {KURGAN} 5. John Boorman directed such films as “Deliverance,” “Excalibur” and: THE EMERALD FOREST. {CHILL, on a dicey 2-way call.} 6. Cyclone Pam recently blasted the ___ Archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean: VANUATU. {MEERA} 7. Which network news anchor was suspended due to a misleading story set in Iraq? BRIAN WILLIAMS. {Chorus}

Py-Ram-it Round

P1. Who is the author of such books as ‘Lush Life,’ ‘The Wanderers,’ and ‘Clockers’?
RICHARD PRICE. {We were able to eliminate only 2 of the 5 Richards.}

P2. Now extinct, the diprotodon is the largest known:
MARSUPIAL. {Egads! Another five-way conundrum.}

P3. 2015 marks the 50th Anniversary of this controversial work on urban family structure: MOYNIHAN REPORT. {DUFF made this impressive call.}

P4. Guangdong is a region of China formerly known as ___ in English-speaking lands: CANTON. {KURGAN picked up this little factoid in culinary class.}

P5. Broca’s Area is a part of the brain related most closely to:
WRITTEN/SPOKEN LANGUAGE. {KURGAN again, but thankfully not from culinary school.}

So, as I’ve been forced by circumstances all too often to say, this round was average for us. Three correct, one approximately 2-way and one 5-way split.

FINAL TRAGEDY, on the Topic of: MOUNTAIN RANGES

Valued for its deposits of iron ore, the Hamersley Range is located here:

1. Wales
2. South Africa
3. Tanzania
4. Australia
5. Latvia

The order of the eliminations was, 2, 3, 1, and 5, leaving #4, AUSTRALIA, as the correct answer. There was some hesitation, with some people suggesting South Africa. Fortune played a part tonight as South Africa was the first choice eliminated. The rest of the team was already on AUSTRALIA, which went a long way to preserving some pretty high scores.

The top six boxes displayed the following totals: 54474, 52536, 49990, 49500, 48152, and 47525 points. The team average broke the magic 50,000 point barrier and came in at 50,362 points. This would be good enough to finish in SECOND place in the Mt/Pac Zone, just behind Residuals of Studio City, CA. System-wide, the team ranked TENTH for this game. Not bad…not bad at all.

Congratulations to all the teams that place their honest, wet-ware scores above Borg enhanced Personal Ego Gratification.

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

Once again thanks to those of you who take a second or two to jot a note about the alter-gory questions. May I humbly request that many more of you take the time to jot down at least a key-word and the answer to your Category Round questions and submit them here.

At least then we would get a sense of what shenanigans the BUZZHEADS are up to on all these Category alternatives.

This week's game prompted a few of the team to ask BLZBUB to request the "ICELANDIC SAGAS" questions, although Old Scratch expects these were roundly ignored in favor of 'easier' topics.

Surely, however, some teams could not resist the temptation to pick Black Spirituals. So come on...GIVE.

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

The first Icelandic Saga answer was Njal's Saga. I forget the question. We considered ourselves so lucky to get that one, that we didn't take the second one. I think the only reason we chose it was because without a doctor, we know nothing about the Human Body. (except what we learned in the gutter)
XT

s2
stavenger is a city located where? norway

s3
go down _____ is a widely sung spiritual. moses

s6
the saga laxdaela focuses on what? love triangle

Q1 - Icelandic Sagas = The greatest of the Icelandic sagas are 'Egil's Saga', 'Laxdaela Saga' and?

Njal's Saga

Q4 World Geography = The Arabian Peninsula contains the entirety of exactly ___ nations?

Seven

The second Black Spirituals question asked of which song Richie Havens performed a spirited version at Woodstock (MOTHERLESS CHILD).

_________________
Anon
"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."