New Scaratings

Showdown Recap for 20 Mar 2018 at BWW Gibson in ABQ

After a long two week road-trip, BLZBUB has settled back into the familiar confines of the BWW on Gibson Blvd in Albuquerque. He seems almost bored with the sameness of the establishment. But Low? What has happened in his absence? The fair and enticing Melissa has announced that she is moving on to another job, and that she hopes it pays better than serving a bunch old farts and teetotalers. Quell damage! And while BLZBUB and the Ragged Rascals wish her well, we will miss that sunny smile.

Ah well, these things come to pass, and there is nothing aging triviots can do about it. However, this will introduce an opportunity to introduce some new talent in the server pool to our peculiarities. The team wishes them good luck as they adapt to BLZBUB’s requests for beverages alien to 19 year old non-drinkers.


Worn-up Round

1. What do you call a person who sells candles? CHANDLER. {Bing-o! We got it.}
2. Incorporated as a city in 1885, it is nicknamed ‘The City Beautiful’: ORLANDO.
3. On what Caribbean island was the Battle of San Juan Hill fought in 1898? CUBA.
4. Nevus is the technical term for this physical characteristic: MOLE.
5. This 17th Century phenomenon is regarded as the first speculative bubble: TULIP MANIA.
6. Which is an extra-spectral color? MAGENTA
7. Which term refers to a male adolescent? STRIPLING.
8. Bourbon whiskey is a distilled spirit made mostly from: CORN.
9. It’s a small portion or quantity: DOLLOP.
10. As Alfred Pennyworth is to Batman, Edwin Jarvis is to: IRON MAN.

The team did very well on this round by scoring 9 of 10 correct. On WU 2, the team got into split territory, caught between Orlando and Oakland.

Ground-down Round

1. The Linderhof Palace was designed by this eccentric monarch: LUDWIG II OF BAVARIA.
2. An inhabitant of Earth would be called a: TELLURIAN.
3. Cotard Delusion is a type of mental illness in which a person thinks they are: DEAD.
4. In 1938, he published the first book in his ‘Space Trilogy’ Series: C.S. LEWIS.
5. Which of these (g-d-p-f-v) animals is a bird? TROGON.
6. Fort Pontchartrain du ___ was established by a French officer in 1701. DETROIT. {Dammit! BLZBUB missed the date when reading the question, rendering Him unable to eliminate Baton Rouge.}
7. In which religion is the Kol Nidre chanted? JUDAISM.
8. The salinity level of the Dead Sea is about ___ percent. 33.
9. In what decade did bobbysocks first become popular in the United States? 1940’s
10. It’s a tree you might find in the Caribbean: DIVI-DIVI.
11. The title of this 1999 movie is an anagram of the 1998 book it is based on: OCTOBER SKY. {Rocket Boys eluded us.}
12. Galangal is a spice that is commonly used in this country’s cuisine: THAILAND.

The team turned in one of its worst-ever performances on this round. We did manage to score the correct answer for the full points on GD’s 1, 5, 9, 10, and 12. There were 5-way splits resolved by the third clue on ALL of the others.


Scatology Round

S1. Literature class v UNITS OF MEASURE
Parasang is a historical ___ unit of distance measure. PERSIAN. {Splits}

S2. CURRENT TELEVISION v cities of the world
What job does TV character Howard Wolowitz have? AEROSPACE ENGINEER. {Greek chorus form the Geek chorus.}

S3. Jazzmen v SCIENTISTS
Edward O. Wilson, entomologist extraordinaire, started the ___ Foundation. BIODIVERSITY. {DUFF, MEERA, and JAX teamed up to answer this one

S4. CITIES OF THE WORLD v Litch-raw-cure clawss
Oradea, Pitesti, and Buzau are three cities in: ROMANIA. {Splits with little-known Estonia ensued.}

S5. Scientists v CURRENT TELEVISION
Kirsten Vangsness plays Penelope Garcia on this CBS show: CRIMINAL MINDS. {BLZBUB, a topical expert, got this one. What? You were thinking an expert on CBS?}

S6. UNITS OF MEASURE v jazzmen
The Rankine Scale is a measure of: TEMPERATURE. {SCOOTR called it, while BLZBUB and DUFF laughed at the synchronicity of a Sharon Allen Facebook post we saw earlier that day.}

The team got 4 of the 6 without delay. The toughest question for us was S1, which prompted a 5-way split. There was a 2-way split on S4, but most of the team got big points on it anyway.


Frightening Round

1. She plays the role of figure skater Tonya Harding in the 2018 movie ‘I, Tonya’: MARGOT ROBBIE.
2. In the algebraic formula 3x + 10 = 31, what does x equal? 7
3. Who is a featured artist on Mark Ronson’s hit ‘Uptown Funk’? BRUNO MARS.
4. In U.S. politics, money given to non-profit organizations is called: DARK MONEY.
5. Roger Federer won his ___ Grand Slam singles title at this year’s Australian Open. TWENTIETH.
6. Spotify and Tidal are the names of two: MUSIC STREAMING SERVICES.
7. Nicole Pollizi is better known in the celebrity world as: SNOOKI.

The team had trouble with F5, after calls for ‘high teens’ forced a defacto split with 15 and 20. Otherwise, the round was easy for us.

Py-Ram-It Round

P1. The Livonian War proved to be a defeat for this 16th Century ruler:
Choices: Ivan the Terrible, Olaf IV, Napoleon Bonaparte, Peter the Great, Frederick Barbarossa
A: IVAN THE TERRIBLE. {DUFF}

P2. In Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni.’ Leporello is the title character’s:
Choices: Rival, Brother, Lawyer, Servant, Priest
A: SERVANT. {DUFF again.}

P3. What marsupial has a backward-facing pouch and digs extensive burrowing systems?
Choices: Kangaroo, Wombat, Mongoose, Lemur, Horned Toad
A: WOMBAT. {HEBEGB was the first with the call. “Of course,” said the rest of us. “Kangaroos don’t dig, and the rest aren’t even marsupials.”}

P4. Born in 1924, Svante Oden is remembered for publicizing the problem of:
Choices: Holes in the ozone; X-ray radiation; Dutch Elm disease; Acid Rain, Nuclear proliferation
A: ACID RAIN. {This question prompted a 2-way split between acid rain and holes in the ozone.}

P5. Painter Camille Pissaro displayed his works at all eight Paris ___ Exhibitions.
Choices: Baroque, Rococo, Pointillist, Dadaist, Impressionist
A: IMPRESSIONIST. {DUFF made an impressive call.}

This wrapped up an impressive performance for this round. The Ragged Rascals got 4 for 5 for the full points and the single two-way split on P4.


FINAL TRAGEDY
Topic: WORD ORIGINS

English writer Edmund Spenser was the first known person to use this word in print:

1. Lackluster
2. Braggadocio
3. Moonbeam
4. Hornswoggle
5. Green-Eyed

The order of the eliminations was 3, 5, 1, and 4, leaving #2, BRAGGADOCIO as the correct answer. The team started this one on a five-way split and hoped for the best. A few players got lucky and had their choice quickly eliminated, allowing them to make their best guess. Unfortunately all of the players assigned #4, along with a bunch of the guessers landed on #4 also.

The top individual scores for the night were 50607, 44763, 37719, 34596, 33748, and a lowly 18260 points. The top scores belonged to people who stayed with their 5-way split. Not many did.

The team’s average score for this game was 36,614 points.

The Ragged Rascals’ system-wide ranking was FOURTEENTH Place.

The top scores of the night went to “the usual suspects.”
The Fellowship claimed another victory with 51086 points, the only score above the 50,000 barrier.
Houlihan’s of NYC, NY came in second at 47137.
The Grand Slam team at BWW Arlington finished third with 46844.
The Fiftieth-place team could only manage 24688 Points.
Congrats to all those teams that bettered that mark.

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

I hope a member of the Fellowship with better memory comes along... because I don't remember the questions or answers for these, but I know we took these choices:

S1 - Literature Class
EDIT #1: This was about some Author whose story "Christmas" something was set in...BLANK. We thought the answer was Netherlands or Norway because so many of his stories were set there... but, the real answer was England...maybe? See -that's very helpful!
EDIT #2: It was about Washington Irving!

S2 - World Cities (because ANON commented we were the only team that might select World Cities over Television!)

S5 - Scientists

ANON Napkin of Fame will have notes... Sorry for my useless contribution...

_________________
RABBIT

I'm not bad -- I'm just drawn that way.

Yes! It was something like "Washington Irving's 'Old Christmas' was about Christmas traditions in what country?"



This was something like "This African city is a seaport:" and Tripoli was the only possible answer.



I'm guessing we either must have missed this one or called it as a Greek Chorus, because I can't see anything that looks like this on The Napkin Of Fame.



Sorry I couldn't do much better.

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

Not certain where I got this, but it might be S5: SCIENTISTS: (Dang, the phrasing escapes me.) The question concerned Robert Koch being a founder of modern bacteriology. (This could also be from a different quiz altogether.)

Nope, REACH is correct (see below). I remember thinking "Microscopy," and Insects were the only viable fit for those devices.

S5:SCIENTISTS - In the 17th century, Jan Swammerdam studied _________________.
Answer: Insects [We didn't get this question. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Swammerdam .]

We also chose 'World Cities', but forgot the 2nd question. I just remember that we got them both.

_________________
Middle age is when a broad mind and a slim waist exchange places.

I'm curious about both of the Jazzmen questions.

I'm a big fan of jazz, but couldn't talk my teammates into going that way.

Bill AKA VIKING

Yup, that was it. I, too, precalled microbiology only to be flustered when it didn’t show up. We defaulted to insects for partial credit because it was the smallest choice.

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

So we've left VIKING twisting in the wind, over the Jazzmen questions, and nobody can solve S4, Literature Class? I saw the S4 Literature question, and can't recall it.

Unlike VIKING, I'm not deep into jazz. And of course I didn't see the questions. The two answers I would like to have drawn down, successfully, would probably be Thelonious Monk and Art Blakey, who collaborated now and again, but were far different musicians.

Blakey in particular. I only saw him live on a couple occasions, but my goodness! In one concert, he had break dancers in front of the Messengers, the dancers utterly unfazed by rapidly shifting time signatures, which, after our initial astonishment, seemed very natural. How any of those dancers, or any of his musicians, kept up with the drummer who was Art Blakey remains a mystery.

In a video tribute to Art Blakey, one of his daughters asked, "Daddy, when you're too old to play drums, what are you going to do?"

"'Well then I'll die.'"

And so he did.

The second Jazzmen question asked who composed a work whose name escapes me, but I believe it was the Freedom Now Suite which makes sense because the answer was Max Roach.

Thanks for the info about one of the jazz questions.

Art Blakey is one of my favorites. Alas, I never got the chance to see him live. I think Bill Frisell is one of the most creative people out there now. He's a guitarist, and his music ranges from folky/Americana jazz fusion to dissonant avant garde stuff with all sorts of side steps in between.

Our group did the second literature question, but we can't exactly remember it.

We remember two questions, and are thinking one was the category round question, and the other one must have been in Brainbuster or a Countdown game that night:


First: What was the original title of Catch-22? (Catch-18)...and I remember Yossarian's Dilemma as a red herring


Second: What novel has the subtitle "The Parish Boy's Progress"? (Oliver Twist)...and some of us started on Tom Jones

So, hopefully, one of those was the category question. Unfortunately, I can't remember which one.

Bill AKA VIKING

Have VIKING & VULTURE scavenged the substantific marrow? Their posts look accurate to me.

Well played, Gentlemen!

Consensus from our team is that the Showdown question was the Oliver Twist one...

Okay folks, here's a suggestion:
Have someone with a smart phone enter the voice recorder app and read the category questions into the device. Other than for awkward spellings, that should produce a verbatim reproduction of the Altergory questions.

Then you can retire the scrap paper that moves with your pen while you try to frantically scribble down those keywords.

That will allow you to disseminate the Altergory questions, and reduce BLZBUB's frustration. The frustration that comes when his team mates whine about the rest of the group taking the wrong category. He like to come the following week with a printout of the Altergory Q's and slap them on the table in front of the whiner and ask, "would you have gotten this?" <evil grin>

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