New Scaratings

Once again, the Ragged Rascals have set up shop at the BWW Montgomery Blvd, instead of the Gibson location. This will be our home for the foreseeable future, unless the management at Gibson gets another ten repaired or refurbished Playmakers.

This game would see 13 triviots assembled to manhandle 19 boxes for the contest.

Worn-out Round


1. What type of animal is a springbok? ANTELOPE.
2. James jones wrote such war novels as ‘The Thin Red Line’ and: FROM HERE TO ETERNITY.
3. Which word means ‘to run hastily’? SCAMPER.
4. What has traditionally been the major component of blackboard chalk? CALCIUM CARBONATE.
5. LHASA is a city that serves as the capital of: TIBET.
6. The Espionage Act of 1917 was enacted just after the U.S. entry into: THE FIRST WORLD WAR.
7. She began her singing career with Big Brother and the Holding Company: JANIS JOPLIN.
8. In North American cuisine, Bok Choy is also called: CHINESE CABBAGE.
9. Which company was removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average last month? GENERAL ELECTRIC.
10. One ___ mile is 1.15078 statute miles. NAUTICAL. {And this is totally rational, right Davy?}

The team went 10 for 10 correct again this week. This, of course, triggers the ‘Pyramid Round Superstition,’ wherein early success forebodes ill for the later rounds.

Ground-down Round

1. ‘Paper Tiger,’ meaning an ineffectual enemy, is a political term the U.S. borrowed from: CHINA.
2. The plasmasphere is also known as the: INNER MAGNETOSPHERE.
3. Which of these men served as Chief Justice of the United States? FRED M. VINSON.
4. ‘The Return of the Prodigal Son’ is a 17th Century masterpiece by: REMBRANDT.
5. ‘Blood and Sand’ is a 1908 novel about this type of sportsman: BULLFIGHTER.
6. Duqu, Great Cannon, and Stuxnet are type of ___ weapons. CYBER.
7. The loganberry is a hybrid of the raspberry and the: BLACKBERRY.
8. Which type of person would be classified as a member of the lumpenproletariat? VAGABOND. {Ouch, can you spare an answer, mister?}
9. The Lotus Temple in Delhi, India, is a famous ___ place of worship. BAHA’I
10. Which word best defines ‘sericeous’? SILKY. {Damn, a 5-way was needed.}
11. Which city does *not* lie on the banks of the Mississippi River? KANSAS CITY.
12. Andy Weir, author of 2017’s “Artemis,” is also the author of this bestseller: THE MARTIAN.

This was a very nice round for the team. The 5-way and third-clue saves were only needed on two of the 12 questions. There were pre-calls on about six of the other queries.

Scatology Round

S1. GREEK MYTHOLOGY v British slang
In Greek myth, Nessus was a ___ whose tainted blood ultimately killed Hercules. CENTAUR. {Good old DUFF pre-speculated that this would be the answer..}

S2. Poets v FAMOUS AMERICANS
Samuel Gompers, Walter Reuther, and George Meany are all major names in American: LABOR

S3. Sports v NETFLIX SHOWS
This Oscar Winner plays one of the title roles on Netflix’s ‘Grace and Frankie’: JANE FONDA. {CROEM knows his old crones.}

S4. FAMOUS AMERICANS v Greek mythology
The late Alan Bean distinguished himself in history as a: NASA ASTRONAUT. {Greek chorus}

S5. NETFLIX SHOWS v poets
Which classic series got a reboot as a 2017 Netflix series with Rita Moreno? ONE DAY AT A TIME. {CROEM, again}

S6. British slang v SPORTS {Blimey! Why sports?}
Both skeet shooting and ___ shooting are competitive clay pigeon events. TRAP. {DUFF with a pre-call. OK, so that’s why sports over Brit slang.}


Frightening Round

1. From which language do we get the word ‘dervish,’ a term for an ascetic holy man? PERSIAN.
2. ‘Devil Without a Cause’ is the album that made ___ a national name in popular music. KID ROCK. {Nice call by SCOOTR.}
3. From 2014 to 2016, the Prime Minister of Italy was: MATTEO RENZI. {Nice call by MEERA.}
4. What animal is in the logo for Gloria Vanderbilt clothing? SWAN.
5. ‘Respect few, fear none’ is the motto of this biker gang formed in California in 1969: THE MONGOLS. {The team could hardly concentrate on finding the answer, given the first choice on the list.}

The choices were
1. The Zeringues
2. The Clan
3. The Mongols
4. The Wankers
5. The Lambs
{BLZBUB wishes that someone wearing Mongol colors saw this, took umbrage at the inclusion of ‘the Wankers,’ and knows where Buzzie HQ is located.}
6. John T. Edge’s ‘The Potlikker Papers’ is about this U.S. regional cuisine: SOUTHERN. BLZBUB with a nice call.}
7. Which Small country is in the Pyrenees Mountains? ANDORRA.

The team had a field day with this set of questions, but really #5 was the only one that stood out, as BLZBUB’s alter-ego Ken Zeringue achieved trivia immortality.

Py-Ram-It Round*
*paraphrased form faulty memory

P1. HIPPARCHUS.
*Which figure from antiquity is an astronomer known for his discovery of the precession of the equinoxes?

P2. ARABESQUE
*Which term is used for both a move in ballet and a style of play in piano?

P3. INQUILINE
*Which is a term for a commensal relationship where an animal lives in the nest of another species?

P4. SAMUEL T. COLERIDGE
{could have been a quote, or a lesser known work}
P5. MONGOLIA
*Which landlocked nation has …{something about a flower?}
Choices included, Malta, Madagascar, Moldova, and another country that actually is landlocked.


FINAL TRAGEDY
Topic: WHAT’S IN YOUR EYE?

*What is responsible for the flashes of light that you see when your eyes are closed? {Question may have included information from the definition of Phosphene: a ring or spot of light produced by pressure on the eyeball or direct stimulation of the visual system by other than light.}

Choices not recorded…


The order of the eliminations was x, y, z, and t, leaving #5, PHOSPHENES, as the correct answer. BLZBUB was the first to identify this as the most likely answer.

The top individual scores for the night were 53315, 52124, 51287, 51169, 51100, and 50560 points.

The team’s average score for this game was 51,592 points.

The Ragged Rascals’ systemwide ranking was EIGHTH Place overall and EIGHTH in the wetware-only competition.

The top score for this game went to Big Guys of Winnipeg, MB @ 58282 points.
2. Pockets of Tallahassee, FL @ 55097
3. Old Barn of Portland, OR @ 54348

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

The Hipparchus referenced by Buzztime wasn't the astronomer but an Athenian tyrant. The question resembled, "Which Athenian statesman was assassinated in 514 BC?" Solon, idolized in his time, was the only plausible distractor, the only other player in the drop-down box who wasn't wildly anachronistic.

I distinctly remember a question involving GYPSY's Fred Vinson and my Vada Pinson, but I couldn't find it in BLZBUB's recap. Were Brinson, Vinson and Pinson in Brainbuster? Ah, it was question #3 in the Countdown Round.

_________________
liljol, still residing in a humble lil abode in Buzztime's Backyard, San Diego County, in The Horribly Site-Poor Golden State, California...

<--805 NTN Buzztime sites visited as of 11/13/2018...

F CUBS!!!!! FBOSOX!!!!!

FPDRES!!!!! FCHGRS!!!!!

S3. SPORTS vs. netflix shows
In the NBA, Tornto's team is the RAPTORS.

S5. netflix shows vs. POETS
Born in 1572, this poet wrote in a metaphysical style: JOHN DONNE

(And I think that completes the set of 12 questions.)

--Rick Magnus
RickM, Blue Goose

Since we so often criticize Buzztime for messed-up questions, I figure I'll give them credit for doing one surprisingly right.

The Chief Justice is so often referred to as the "Chief Justice of the Supreme Court." Buzztime got it right with "Chief Justice of the United States.) Well done.

(And "which of these" questions also have the advantage of being tougher to look up on a computer. There have been but 17 CJs, so the list could be called up, but still the kind of question that should be used.)

--Rick Magnus
RickM, Blue Goose

Well played, ladies and gentlemen, those of you who collected. (No surprise that LILJOL and RICKM were able to complete the Categories.)

NCYCLO, who claims to have suffered every eye ailment imaginable, and so requested precedence in answering Final Showdown, was unable to visualize Phosphene as the correct answer. Personally, I didn't know whether to shit or go blind, and collected 4K off the final elimination. Diagnosed with macular degeneration, how this message reads I have no idea.

My apologies to the group for misremembering the Hipparchus question. My confusion began with the questions pre-speculation that it MIGHT have been the astronomer, but proved not to be.

When I went to write the recap and realized I had not recorded the Pyramid round, I went to my memory of the discussion and inadvertently combined our talking about the more famous Hipparchus (the astronomer) with my write-up in the recap.

Thanks to GONE D for helping to straighten this mess out.

Z aka BLZBUB

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

Let go of your remorse, BLZBUB. You're stellar, and we your acolytes find your humility somewhat...ahem!...

Unbecoming.

Actually, I thought this question was messed up. It gave a quote, and asked about the most famous poem by what poet. The quote was from Xanadu.

I'd consider The Rime of the Ancient Mariner to be Coleridge's most famous poem, not Xanadu. I was pretty sure (and correctly so) that the line wasn't from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and ended up missing it.

As to Xanadu, I'll admit to remembering Funky Winkerbean's version better than the original:
"In Xanadu did Kublai Khan a stately pleasure dome decree
But only if the NFL to a franchise would agree."

--Rick Magnus
RickM, Blue Goose