New Scaratings

Since no-one has posted a summary of the game, I'll post the categories I saw, welcoming people to produce other questions.

1) ANCIENT HISTORY vs. rock musicians
The Roman Emperor when St. Peter was martyred was NERO.



2) PLAYS vs. ufos
"The Spoils," "The Revisionist," & "Asuncion" are plays by writer/actor JESSE EISENBERG.


3) LATIN 101 (should be "CI") vs. south dakota
The two major types of Latin are classical & VULGAR.
(I was wondering if the answer would be "church," which I think would have been a better answer. Classical was more the older Latin, that evolved, rather than formal Latin. But, even before the answers appeared, I was prepared for "vulgar.")


4) ufos vs. ANCIENT HISTORY
Democritus, born 460 BCE, was an ancient Greek known as the LAUGHING PHILOSOPHER.


5) south dakota vs. PLAYS
Lillian Hellmann's first play, based on a real court case, was THE CHILDREN'S HOUR.


6) rock musicians vs. LATIN 101 (but here it REALLY should have been CI!)
Septem et tredecim sunt VIGINTI.
(Okay, five years of Latin has its effect. As worded, the question translates "Seven and 13 are," with an answer of 20. But I don't think Latin grammar would ever use "and" for "plus," or would use "are" (the 3rd person present plural of "to be") for "equals." I expected viginti as the answer, but I do think the better answer would have been a word for "numbers," since 7 & 13 are numbers.)


I'll admit to curiosity for the other categories. There are just too many rock musicians, and I've never been good at matching a musician with his/her group. UFOs may have been easy--Jimmy Carter reporting one, Roswell, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, etc.--but may have been very difficult. Similarly, South Dakota could have asked about Pierre, Sioux Falls, Rapid City, George McGovern, Mt. Rushmore or The Badlands, but could have asked about population, current elected officials or number of counties, about which I would have had no idea.

--Rick Magnus
RickM, Blue Goose

--Rick Magnus

I found Ken's summary on another site.




Showdown Recap for 19 Jul 2016 at BWW Gibson in ABQ



The team for this game was nearly at full strength. Fourteen stalwart players made it to the table, although one was tardy. The humanitarian cause of her delay was enough to stay any cries of scorn from BLZBUB.



Worn-up Round



1. What is the subtitle of the latest ‘X-Men’ movie? APOCALYPSE.

2. Europa Point is the southernmost place in: GIBRALTER.

3. Daveed Diggs is an award-winning: BRAOADWAY ACTOR.

4. Liberty Cap, Royal Arches, and Mariposa Grove are all sites in this U.S. National Park: YOSEMITE.

5. The ___ Cascada is a sporty mid-size convertible: BUICK.

6. In 1844, the Dominican Republic won its independence from: HAITI.

7. Which company is currently celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding? BOEING.

8. ‘The Emperor’s Revenge’ is the latest in the Oregon Files series of novels by: CLIVE CUSSLER.

9. Groupers are in the same family as the: SEA BASSES.

10. She was one of the greatest American poets of the 20th Century: ADRIENNE RICH.



That round was a bit testy, and we were a bit challenging (or vice versa.) The team had major difficulties on WU2, 3, and 8. The other questions were considered amenable to quick answers.



Ground-down Round



1. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated the ___ policy in 1933. GOOD NEIGHBOR.

2. A photon sphere is a region surrounding a: BLACK HOLE.

3. A nine-month siege of this city ended in 1865: PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA.

4. The Nile River has a total of ___ cataracts: SIX.

5. Its scientific name is Poa Pratensis: KENTUCKY BLUEGRASS.

6. Niobrara, Platte, Sheridan, and Washakie are four of this state’s 23 counties: WYOMING.

7. Hepatic and Celiac are the names of branches of your: ANTERIOR VAGAL TRUNK.

8. If you just bought yourself a Ram 1500 Rebel, you’ve got yourself one fine: PICKUP TRUCK.

9. In computerese lingo, what does the ‘L’ stand for in ‘XML’? LANGUAGE.

10. Which biblical figure received gold and silver from the land of Ophir every three years? KING SOLOMON.

11. Disney recently opened a brand new mega-resort called ___ Disney: SHANGHAI.

12. The word ‘jungle’ comes from a ___ term meaning uncultivated land: SANSKRIT.



This round actually went off better than the warm-up round. There were miscues on GD4, 6, 7, and 12. Of course the third clues bailed us out on those. The other questions were dispatched with ease.



Scatology Round



S1. ANCIENT HISTORY v rock musicians

According to tradition, St. Peter was martyred in Rome while ___ was emperor of Rome: NERO. {DUFF & CHILL slayed this one.}



S2. Plays v UFO’S

You all know about Roswell, but what about the 1965 Kecksburg case in: PENNSYLVANIA. {KURGAN gets this mystery solved.}



S3. LATIN 101 v South Dakota

The two basic varieties of the Latin language are ___ and classical: VULGAR. {DUFF parsed the list for us.}



S4. Ufo’s v ANCIENT HISTORY

Born circa 460 B.C., Democritus was an ancient Greek known as the: LAUGHING PHILOSOPHER. {Safety demanded a split with ‘clever mathematician.’}



S5. SOUTH DAKOTA v plays

South Dakota’s capital is Pierre, but its largest city is: SIOUX FALLS. {Our early preference for Rapid City was crushed by the third clue.}



S6. ROCK MUSICIANS v Latin 101

This progressive rocker composed ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth.’ RICK WAKEMAN. {KURGAN was the first to suggest this, but also hedged with Brian Eno.}



The team got 3 of 6 for the full points, and worked the third clues on the other three questions.



Frightening Round



1. Which literary character’s first name is James? PROFESSOR MORIARTY.

2. Sinclair Oil is known for its popular green ___ logo. DINOSAUR.

3. Which university joined the Big Ten Conference in 2014? RUTGERS.

4. Slimcados are a ___ variety of avocado now grown in Florida: WEST INDIAN.

5. Citron is a men’s fragrance from: PERRY ELLIS.

6. Electric ___ Carnival is an annual dance festival held in various U.S. states and abroad: DAISY.

7. Beyonce’s latest album is titled: LEMONADE.



The team choked on the avocado, and barely got Perry Ellis covered in stink in time. The rest of the round drew pre-calls.



Py-Ram-It Round



P1. The Philips Curve and the Kondratiev Wave would be of most interest to an:

ECONOMIST. {BLZBUB made the pre-call on this one.}



P2. This capital city’s name means ‘New Flower’ in the Amharic language:

ADDIS ABABA. {BLZBUB is not sure who called this…it wasn’t until late that CHILL put the team onto this.}



P3. 17th Century composer Francesco Cavalli’s music belongs to the early ___ Period:

BAROQUE. {DUFF got us to harmonize over this one.}



P4. Fish make up 99 percent of this bird’s diet:

OSPREY. {JAX, field ornithologist, fielded this one.}



P5. A Polish and Lithuanian army defeated the ___ in 1410, and broke its military power: TEUTONIC ORDER. {DUFF again pre-called an answer with his smart-mouth.}



The team was amazed to see that it had gotten 5 of 5 correct for this round. This sure felt fabulous after the struggles of the earlier rounds.



FINAL TRAGEDY

Topic: SCIENTISTS



Which famous scientist was born and died in the 18TH Century?



1. Christiaan Huygens

2. James Maxwell

3. Rene Descartes

4. Antoine Lavoisier

5. Henri Becquerel



The order of the eliminations was 5, 3, 1, and 2, leaving #4, ANTOINE LAVOISIER, as the correct answer. Our date-remembering phenom, DUFF, made an early call for this question. As a result the top six scorers were able to get around 80% of their wagered points.

the first rock musician question asked, tom petersson and daxx nielsen make up half of this illinois band. cheap trick.

the first south dakota question asked the rank in area for south dakota. 17th