The Ragged rascals were back from the holidays, and just about everybody was grumbling about having to go back to work. BLZBUB could sympathize with this sentiment, as he needed another team’s soul to steal and was ready to make a deal.
Ten players made it to the BWW on Gibson Blvd in Albuquerque for this game. One of our stalwart warriors has decamped to Florida for the winter. Others had work or personal reasons for their absence. However, those in place were more than ready to resume play after the debacle of the 29 Dec 2016 game.
Worn-up Round
1. In what Midwestern state is the city of Terre Haute: INDIANA. 2. Which word describes things relating to the liver? HEPATIC. 3. This poet wrote an epic biography of Abraham Lincoln that was published in 1939: CARL SANDBERG. 4. Which precious stone contains the Latin word for ‘stone’: LAPIS LAZULI. 5. Rio Tinto is one of the world’s largest ___ corporations: MINING. 6. In the military acronym ‘WAVES,’ what does the letter ‘E’ stand for: EMERGENCY. 7. Whose birthday is March 9, 1959? BARBIE. 8. In France a pamplemousse is this edible item: GRAPEFRUIT. 9. ‘The War of Currents’ in the late 19th Century pitted George Westinghouse against: THOMAS EDISON. 10. Switzerland is home to the world’s: LONGEST TRANSIT TUNNEL. {The team had a pretty good run through this round. Although there were a couple of bogus pre-calls, those were corrected immediately, allowing the team to go 10 for 10 correct.}
Ground-down Round
1. Aerography is a branch of: METEOROLOGY. 2. Haiti’s Jean-Bertrand Aristide found safety in ___ after being ousted in 2004: AFRICA. 3. Coal-tar and wood-tar are the two main kinds of: CREOSOTE. 4. Now a designation for an anonymous person, ‘John Doe’ was originally the: PLAINTIFF IN A LAWSUIT. 5. Pimm’s No. 1 is a tasty fruit cup with a ___ base: GIN. 6. What sort of creature is the Asian Arowana? FISH. 7. Which lady is credited with introducing and popularizing the sun tan in the 1920’s? COCO CHANEL. 8. Golfers dystonia is a condition better known as: THE YIPS. 9. Which man was a British General during the French and Indian War? EDWARD BRADDOCK. 10. What color is cinereous? ASHY GRAY. 11. Noted architect Philip Johnson is known for the Seagram Building and for California’s: CRYSTAL PALACE. 12. ‘Mere ___’ is an influential book by C.S. Lewis: CHRISTIANITY. {This round was a bit bumpy. The team got 9 of 12 correct without the aid of the third clue or splits. Bumps…WU’s 5, 6, and 11.}
Scatology Round* *BLZBUB’s lackey, Ken Z. forgot to turn on the video recorder for this and the next round. Questions are paraphrased.
S1. Rivers of the World v WHAT’S THE WORD Shoddy , shabby, and cheap are often synonyms for this word: SLEAZY.
S2. Vegetables v THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL The Lincoln Memorial was dedicated on May 30 of this year: 1922.
S3. ASTRONAUTS v popular fiction Neil Armstrong rode to the moon on this spacecraft: APOLLO 11.
S4. THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL v Rivers of the World The perimeter of the memorial has 36 ___ representing the states during Lincoln’s rule: DORIC COLUMNS.
S5. Popular fiction v VEGETABLES Raphanus Sativus is the proper name for what is commonly called the: RADISH.
S6. What’s the word v ASTRONAUTS This former astronaut wrote the book “Return to Earth”? BUZZ ALDRIN.
Frightening Round*
1. – 7. *Not recorded…no notes to paraphrase.
Py-Ram-It Round
P1. ‘The North Star’ was an ___ newspaper that began publication in 1847. ANTI-SLAVERY. {DUFF made an excellent pre-call here.}
P2. What famous opera that premiered in 1926 is set in the country of China ? TURANDOT. {Several players simultaneously suggested this one.}
P3. The 39 Articles is one of the defining documents of this institution: CHURCH OF ENGLAND. {DUFF and CHILL worked out this answer before the five choice appeared.}
P4. Traditionally the limbic system is a complex set of ___ structures. BRAIN. {DUFF made another accurate pre-call.}
P5. This river begins its 569-mile journey in the Yukon Territory of Canada: PORCUPINE. {SCOOTR gets the lion’s share of the credit for this one with a bold 2-way split.} {This round was a very gratifying 5 for 5 correct. The anchors of the team excelled in their communication.}
FINAL TRAGEDY Topic: PLAYS (BLZBUB likes the Statue of Liberty play…not so much the stage)
Anton Chekhov’s ‘The Cherry Orchard’ relates the travails of Madame:
1. Torpelo 2. Ranevskaya 3. Bovary 4. Pagliacci 5. Wolowitz
The team started eliminating answers verbally, but many had jumped ahead and went with the most obviously Russian name on the list. BLZBUB and MEERA were the first to call #2 as the answer, but the final scores showed that many boxes were onto #2 before this call was made. Nearly every box in the room had better than 90% of their wager delivered to them by this strategy.
The order of the eliminations was 5, 4, 1, and 3, leaving #2, RANEVSKAYA, as the correct answer.
The top individual scores for the night were 57351, 56883, 56626, 55953, 54739, and 54264.
The team average score was 55,969 points. The team’s ranking was FIFTH Place.
After the game finished, but before the Rankings were revealed, many on the team opined that the game was pretty easy. BLZBUB demurred, saying that no one was forced to sell his soul for an answer to one of the questions, making it a tough game for Old Scratch.
Congratulations go out to our friends at the Tilted Kilt of Scottsdale, AZ for tonight’s win with a whopping 59,648 points. Kudos also go out to our friends at the Mad River in NYC @ 57167 and to the Stained Glass Pub of Elkridge, MD with their 56371 points.
BLZBUB notes with rue, the second highest score came from a bar that was visited by denizens of Milano’s 471, a known Borg Collective. PHFFFT!
_________________ }}}--( (x) (x) )---> Oh my gawd, they killed Ken Z. You bastards!
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