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The sun was bright and the air was crisp as we assembled for this week’s trivia contest. The first question was, “Would the team be bright, and their answers crisp?”
Warm-up Round
1. Australian Annette Kellerman was the world’s first international: SWIMMING STAR. 2. Whose secret audio tapes from the 1960s were recently released: JACQUELINE KENNEDY. 3. This ancient cheese was first made by nomadic tribes to preserve the milk of sheep and goats: FETA. 4. This year marks the 40th anniversary of a deadly riot at this U.S. prison: ATTICA. 5. Tennis star Novak Djokovic of ____ won this year’s U.S. Open: SERBIA. 6. Labor leader Walter Reuther led this union for many years: UNITED AUTO WORKERS. 7. This Stephen Sondheim musical is about a reunion of former partners: FOLLIES. 8. Although they resemble dogs, they are more closely related to cats: HYENAS. 9. What is the main ingredient of the French dessert clafoutis? FRUIT. 10. Alkanes are saturated hydrocarbons that are aka: PARAFFINS
The very first question of the night turned us into wafflers (5-way), and this was soon followed by a 2-way split on Q3. There was a dull miss on Q5, and another 5-way gaffe on Q7. We were neither bright, nor crisp on those four queries. Fortunately, we shone on the other six.
Ground-down Round
1. A reliquary contains objects of a/an __ nature: RELIGIOUS. 2. Nick Adams is a character who appears in two dozen stories by: ERNEST HEMINGWAY. 3. Kris Bowers and Joshua White were winners in this year’s ___ Jazz Piano Competition: THELONIUS MONK. 4. Oliver Heaviside and the team of Siemens and Halske pioneered the ___ in the 1880’s: COAXIAL CABLE. 5. Yum Brands Inc. licenses or operates Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and: KFC. 6. Jouuffroy, Fitch, Rumsey and Stevens all were pioneers of the experimental: STEAMBOAT. 7. Walt Disney popularized this work of composer Paul Dukas: SORCERER’S APPRENTICE. 8. Examples of prokaryotes would be: BLUE-GREEN ALGAE. 9. This thick cut of steak is named after an 19th Century French author: CHATEAUBRIAND. 10. Tachisme is considered the European equivalent of this U.S. movement: ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM. 11. Slate is a metamorphic rock usually derived from this sedimentary rock: SHALE. 12. UBS AG, a ___ banking giant, just lost $2 Billion from unauthorized trades: SWISS.
The not-so-bright from the warm-up round turned up the illumination on the countdown round. There were momentary occultations on the third and fourth spot. There was another 5-way bulb on Q6 and 10, but the rest of the round was brightly spotlighted.
Scatological Round
1. BIG BUSINESS v architects
The Darden Restaurant group includes Olive Garden and: RED LOBSTER. {Or, as CHILL likes to call it, LED ROBSTER.}
2. CURRENT POLITICS v stage designers
Which country just elected its first female Prime minister: DENMARK {Mark my words, she left her DEN, but the team did not.}
3. India v CHESS
How many squares are there on a regular chess board: SIXTY-FOUR {There were a whole lot less than 64 squares in my chess club, but NONE of us were considered cool.}
4. stage designers v BIG BUSINESS
Which is a business rival of Avis and Hertz: DOLLAR THRIFTY {That seems like a contradiction in terms to most of the 99%ers out there occupying something.}
5. CHESS v current politics
A chess player has 1 king, 1 queen, 2 rooks, 2 bishops, 2 knights and: EIGHT PAWNS {Aha, 8 pawns is more like the composition of my chess club.}
6. ARCHITECTS v India
Cass Gilbert was a pioneer in designing this type of building: SKYSCRAPERS {He got the idea from Mama Cass Gilbert, who built multi-decker sandwiches.}
Frightening Round
1. The Israeli consulate in ___ was stormed and sacked in both August and September 2011: CAIRO. {Hell, they made out better than the Thracians…Thrace got raped thrice.} 2. It is used a part of drug addiction detoxification and maintenance programs: METHADONE. 3. Comme des garcons (“Like Boys”) is a hot ___ fashion label: JAPANESE. {I get the suspicion that “like boys” is the proclivity of their chief fashion designer.} 4. The main ingredient in the French-Canadian dish “poutine” is: FRENCH FRIED POTATOES. {And you wonder why so many of them relocated to experience the food in New Orleans?} 5. Benjamin Todd Jealous is the President and CEO of this civil rights organization: NAACP. 6. In connection with appearance the term “blowsy” means: SLOPPY. 7. David Cameron is the Prime Minister of: THE UNITED KINGDOM.
Our performance on that round reminded me of former Secretary of State, Madeline Half-bright.
Py-ram-it Round
P1. The capital of this country was moved in 1975 from Zomba to Lilongwe:
MALAWI {CROEM, with a solid call, governed the team’s choice well.}
P2. Soda-lime, borosilicate, and flint are classifications of ___based on ingredients:
GLASS {BLZBUB saw through this one right away.}
P3. The Sassanid Empire, which lasted from 224 to 651, included all of this current nation:
IRAN {DUFF and CHILL conquered this one for the rest of us.}
P4. Vulpes is a genus of mammals that contains:
FOXES {Sly DUFF called this before anyone else had left their burrow.}
P5. Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft are terms used in this discipline:
SOCIOLOGY {TWIST ordered us to obey his call of duty and stay put on this one.}
In what has become an increasingly rare event, the whole team scored 5 for 5 on this round. We now have a chance to surpass the highest score we’ve earned for this year.
FINAL TRAGEDY on the Topic of English Poets
He was England’s poet laureate during most of Queen Victoria’s reign:
ALFRED TENNYSON
{CHILL often talks about his college class on the English Lake Poets. He loved the professor’s presentation, and has often commented on how this made the course come alive for him. Evidently it was good enough for him to remember it some 150 years later.}
The top six scores for the game were 55519, 55074, 54375, 53493, 52914, and 51081. Thus, the team average was 53,742 for this game. There was enough uncertainty that many of the boxes bled points before settling on the consensus choice for the Final Tragedy, but there were enough good scores to hold the average up.
The little-team-that-could finished in TWENTIETH place for the night. We saw two of the teams engaged in the Sandbag Tourney finish #1 and #2, with the top score over 60,000 points. Good Show!
_________________
}}}--( (x) (x) )--->
Oh my gawd, they killed
Ken Z.
You bastards!
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