Warm-up Round (10 Questions, 500 Points each, 14 seconds to answer from the posting of Question & Choices; No clues):1. The Bel Canto Society is devoted to the art of:____________________.
[Choices: Sculpture, Winemaking, Quilting, Recitation, Operatic singing ]
2. Nelly Bly was an American journalist who also became famous for her trip:________________.
[Choices: To Antarctica, Around the world, To the Earth's center, To the Moon, Over Niagara Falls ]
3. "The Song of Roland" is the national epic of:__________________.
[Choices: Portugal, Japan, Italy, France, Brazil ]
4. Which of these places is a suburb of Chicago, Illinois?__________________
[Choices: Skokie, Overland Park, Plano, Clearwater, Lexington ]
5. The loris is a ________________ native to the forests of India and Sri Lanka.
[Choices: Amphibian, Bird, Reptile, Primate, Insect ]
6. In the world of DC Comics, Selina Kyle is better known as:____________________.
[Choices: Black Widow, Poison Ivy, Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Catwoman ]
7. The Jolly Roger is the traditional flag of:__________________.
[Choices: Longshoremen, Yachtsmen, Pirates, Ghost ships, Great Britain ]
8. Jinns are paranormal beings in _____________________ mythology.
[Choices: Indian, Arabian, Japanese, Chinese, Australian aboriginal ]
9. Dendrology is the scientific study of:______________________.
[Choices: Snakes, Birds, Rodents, Coral, Wooded plants ]
10. Where can you find a place called "Challenger Deep"?______________________
[Choices: Outer space, Sahara Desert, Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Antarctica ]
Countdown Round (12 Questions, 1000 Points each, Points decrease rapidly from 4 to 16 seconds and with 3 Clues):11. Roald Amundsen, explorer of both Poles, was from this country:___________________.
[Choices: Norway, Austria, Poland, The Netherlands, Finland ]
12. "And Then There Were None" is one of this prolific writer's most popular books:____________________.
[Choices: J.D. Salinger, Ray Bradbury, Carson McCullers, Agatha Christie, Truman Capote ]
13. Which scientist would be most knowledgeable of a syncline?___________________
[Choices: Chemist, Geologist, Botanist, Astronomer, Zoologist ]
14. A "Herkie" is a move performed by a:____________________.
[Choices: Wrestler, Swimmer, Golfer, Shortstop, Cheerleader ]
15. In what country was the CFO of China's Huawei recently arrested on behalf of the U.S.?____________________
[Choices: Canada, Thailand, Macedonia, Australia, Japan ]
16. Which word means "shaped like a knife blade"?___________________
[Choices: Purblind, Cultrate, Numinous, Itinerant, Oceolate ]
17. A doll based on a German cartoon character was the inspiration for this iconic American doll:____________________.
[Choices: Chatty Kathy, Raggedy Ann, Barbie, Strawberry Shortcake, Fair Charlotte ]
18. The Kelvin Medal and Prize is awarded by the Institute of:__________________.
[Choices: Physics, Agriculture, Geology, Meteorology, Archaeology ]
19. In women's fashion, what is a peplum?______________________
[Choices: Belt, Long glove, Tall hat, Short overskirt, Open-toed shoe ]
20. Solanum is a large Genus of:___________________.
[Choices: Rocks, Plants, Fish, Rodents, Birds ]
21. Kim Stanley Robinson's "Three Californias Trilogy" is a series of ___________________ novels.
[Choices: Comedy, Romance, Mystery, Film industry, Science fiction ]
22. It's an ornamental stand used as a table centerpiece:______________________.
[Choices: Foozie, Epergne, Catafalque, Hamulus, Dromedary ]
Category Round (6 Questions, 1000 Points each, Points decrease from 4 to 20 seconds & with 3 Clues; Category chosen by majority vote at each Site): 23.(a) Pioneering females v BASEBALL TEAMS: The Washington Senators baseball franchise moved after the 1960 season and became the:___________________.
[Choices: Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners, California Angels, Cleveland Indians, Minnesota Twins ]
24.(a) Psychologists v WORLD CAPITALS: Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, used to be called:______________________.
[Choices: Minsk, Volgagrad, Constantinople, Pressburg, Schalke ]
25.(a) CURRENT EVENTS v Literature: What country withdrew from OPEC last week?_____________________
[Choices: Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Qatar, Venezuela, Morocco ]
26.(a) WORLD CAPITALS v Pioneering females: Muscat is the capital of this small Islamic nation:__________________.
[Choices: Lebanon, Turkey, Yemen, Oman, Romania ]
27.(a) LITERATURE v Psychologists: Wilkie Collins, friend and colleague of Charles Dickens, wrote this novel:___________________.
[Choices: Lady Audley's Secret, Guy Livingstone, The Moonstone, Jude the Obscure, Under Two Flags ]
28.(a) BASEBALL TEAMS v Current events: Which baseball team used to play its home games at Exhibition Stadium?_______________________
[Choices: Baltimore Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets, Houston Astros, San Francisco Giants ]
Lightning Round (7 Questions: 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000 Points, but time to read and answer decreases from 15, 12, 10, 8, 7, 5 to 4 seconds):29. What country legalized pot last year?______________________
[Choices: Canada, Tunisia, Germany, Malaysia, Colombia ]
30. The city of Accra lies on the shores of this body of water:___________________.
[Choices: Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Gulf of Guinea, Mediterranean Sea, Bay of Biscay ]
31. "Show Me the Way" and "Renegade" are songs from this band formed in 1972:_____________________.
[Choices: Styx, Nirvana, REO Speedwagon, Three Dog Night, R.E.M. ]
32. Almonds are the main ingredient of this tasty treat:____________________.
[Choices: Prune Danish, Hungarian Goulash, French Praline, English muffin, Canadian poutine ]
33. Which world city was hit by a giant dust storm two months ago?____________________
[Choices: Helsinki, Sydney, Montevideo, Tokyo, Edmonton ]
34. Denzel Washington and Viola Davis co-star in "Fences", a film adaptation of a play by:___________________.
[Choices: Suzanne Lori-Parks, James Baldwin, Lorraine Hansberry, August Wilson, Amiri Baraka ]
35. In Greek myth, the Titan of Forethought is:____________________.
[Choices: Hephaestus, Hyperion, Prometheus, Loki, Vulcan ]
Dreaded Pyramid Round (5 Questions: 12000, 7000, 4000, 2000, 1000 Points for 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Right out of 5; Time from post of Question & Choices is 16 seconds; No Clues):36. The historical Hiawatha, the origin of Longfellow's hero, helped found the:_____________________.
[Choices: Iroquois Confederacy, Sioux Nation, Navajo Consortium, Seminole Syndicate, Cherokee Alliance ]
37. Carcharodon carcharius is the scientific classification of the:_______________________.
[Choices: Great white shark, Aardvark, Koala bear, Prairie dog, Water buffalo ]
38. Shakespeare depicts Marc Antony in both "Antony and Cleopatra" and:______________________.
[Choices: Cymbeline, Titus Andronicus, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Coriolanus ]
39. San Marino, Europe's oldest surviving constitutional ____________________ , was founded in A.D. 301.
[Choices: Principality, Dictatorship, Communist state, Monarchy, Republic ]
40. Which of these is a "Hermian" planet?__________________
[Choices: Earth, Neptune, Mercury, Saturn, Mars ]
Final Jeopardy Question on BALLET (50% Bonus if Right Immediately; Points decrease rapidly from 4 to 20 seconds and with 3 Clues; 50% Deduction if Final Choice is Wrong): 41. Ballet originated in _____________________ during the 15th Century.
[Choices: France, Spain, Germany, Japan, Italy ]
Answers: 1. Operatic singing [Andrew C (GRYFON) and I (REACH) at Buster's Bar, Ottawa ON pre-called this ("chanter" is French for "to sing"); see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bel_canto ]
2. Around the world [I pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly ]
3. France [I pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Song_of_Roland . Haydn's comic opera "Orlando Paladino" of 1782 features the knight (paladin) Orlando (Roland) and his squire Pasquale; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_Paladino . One highlight is Pasquale's Aria in Act I "Ho viaggiato in Francia, in Spagna…" in which he catalogues all the countries he has visited; see
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0-vOPrbZ04 . Here is a translation of this aria from this relatively seldom performed opera:
Ho viaggiato in Francia, in Spagna, I have travelled in France, in Spain.
ho girato l'Alemagna, I have whirled about Germany,
la Sassonia e la Turchia; Saxony, and in Turkey;
ma vi giuro in fede mia but I swear on my honour
che ho una fame da crepar. I'm so hungry I could die.
Ho espugnato Varadino, I have fought at Varadino,
sono stato nel Pechino, I have been in Peking,
vidi ancor la Tartaria; I've even seen the Tartars;
ma vi giuro in fede mia but I swear on my honour
che ho una fame da crepar. I'm so hungry I could die.
Sono stato nel Giappone, I have been in Japan,
in Croazia, in Bressanone, in Croatia, in Bressanone,
nella Puglia ed in Soria; in Apuglia and in Syria;
ma vi giuro in fede mia but I swear on my honour
ghe ho una fame da crepar. I'm so hungry I could die.
In Marocco ed in Algieri In Morocco and in Algiers
vinsi cento cavalieri, I have fought a hundred cavaliers,
fui signor di Valacchia; I was lord of Wallachia;
ma vi giuro in fede mia but I swear on my honour
che ho una fame da crepar. I'm so hungry I could die.
Solo voi, ragazza bella, Only you, lovely girl,
mi potete rinfrescar. can refresh me.
Ho viaggiato in Francia, in Spagna, ecc. I have travelled in France, etc.
Some might hear a similarity to the catalogue aria of Leporello, squire of the nobleman Don Giovanni (Don Juan), in Act I of Mozart's 1787 opera "Don Giovanni", rightly considered one of the greatest operas of all time. For a YouTube performance of "Madamina il catalogo e questo" with English subtitles, listing all of Don Giovanni's sexual conquests,
see
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJjHVTCm4HE . For background of the opera, see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Giovanni .
The two greatest composers of the day were not jealous of each other, and from 1782-1785 Mozart composed a set of string quartets that he dedicated to the great Haydn; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haydn_Quartets_(Mozart) . You can listen to Mozart's "Hunt"="Jagd" String Quartet from the set at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYTuXWxNhxo or at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYriC3gm2yI .]
4. Skokie [Phil (BSLXPN) called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skokie,_Illinois ]
5. Primate [I pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loris ]
6. Catwoman [Patrick (MRRED) called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catwoman ]
7. Pirates [see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jolly_Roger ]
8. Arabian [Andrew C pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinn ]
9. Wooded plants [Andrew C and I pre-called "trees"; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrology ]
10. Pacific Ocean [I pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenger_Deep ]
11. Norway [I pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Amundsen ]
12. Agatha Christie [I pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Then_There_Were_None . This was also the title of the 1945 film. The 1965 film based on the book was titled "Ten Little Indians"; I'm not sure if there would be protests nowadays over this title, based on the children's ditty. According to the Wikipedia article, the original title of the book was "Ten Little Niggers", which was not considered offensive in the Britain of the day.]
13. Geologist [I pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncline ]
14. Cheerleader [We needed Clues for this one, losing valuable Points. See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herkie ,
and for a video demonstration, see
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlKVIc4GdEk.]
15. Canada [a gimme for Canadian Players; see
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46562132 ]
16. Cultrate [Most of us guessed this, in my case because I saw a connection between "cultrate" (see
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cultrate ) and "cutlery" (from the Old French "coutelerie" from the Latin "cultellus" - cf. "cutlass" ; see
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cutlery ). The other Choices could be easily eliminated except for "Oceolate"; in Googling this word, I got only "oceolate leaf gall", and I'm not sure whether the word is an adjective for "leaf" or for "gall". Perhaps BOTANIST, a really good SHOWDOWN Player, can enlighten us.]
Jean (LESTER) had his tablet freeze, and he had to log off and log on again, missing this Question and maybe the next one, forfeiting 1000 or 2000 Points (the 7 of us had only 8 working tablets total, and one was Jean's, so we were down to 7 tablets total out of which the highest 6 scores would determine our Site score). ]
17. Barbie [I pre-called this one; see the section "History" at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie ]
18. Physics [Everyone except Dave (YELDOR, TULADI) and me guessed this. I had never heard of a Kelvin Prize in Physics, so guessed Meteorology until this was eliminated after 2 clues; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvin_Medal_and_Prize ]
19. Short overskirt [Myfanwy (SPRAJO) pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overskirt ]
20. Plants [from "Sol"="Sun" , I called this one as a guess; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanum ]
21. Science fiction [Jean (LESTER) called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Californias_Trilogy ]
22. Epergne [We needed 3 clues for this one, so missed most of the points; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epergne ]
23.(a) Minnesota Twins [I pre-called "Texas Rangers", and Phil pre-called this and "Minnesota Twins"; since "Texas Rangers" was not one of the Choices, we got all the Points for this one. See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_o ... s_(1901-60) which became the Minnesota Twins in 1960. The Texas Rangers were formed from the Washington Senators of 1961-71; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Rangers_(baseball).]
24.(a) Pressburg [It was between Pressburg and Schalke, and most of us went with Pressburg; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bratislava . Schalke is a district of Gelsenkirchen in North Rhine-Westphalia, part of Germany.]
25.(a) Qatar [Because of its present troubles with 1,000,000% inflation, and a leadership committed to the Paris Climate Accord, we went with Venezuela until it was eliminated as a Choice. See
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/14/perspect ... index.html ]
26.(a) Oman [I pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscat ]
27.(a) The Moonstone [I pre-called this one, as it was the only book title I knew that was written by Wilkie Collins; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moonstone ]
28.(a) Toronto Blue Jays [Probably a gimme for most Canadians; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhibition_Stadium and the second paragraph at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Blue_Jays .]
29. Canada [another gimme for Canadians; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_in_Canada ]
30. Gulf of Guinea [Phil called this one; see the map at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Guinea and note the position of Ghana, whose capital is Accra (see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accra ) ]
31. Styx [We lost most of the points on this one, looking for Peter Frampton who did a cover version of "Show Me the Way". See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styx_(band) , and for the songs, see
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsYvuxmzxX4 and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXhuso4OTG4 ]
32. French praline [Andrew C called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praline ]
33. Sydney [Because it is summer in Australia now, we went with Sydney; see
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-46298309 (Nov. 22, 2018). ]
34. August Wilson [I forget who called this one, maybe Myfanwy or Patrick; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fences_(film) ]
35. Prometheus [I pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus for Forethought (rational understanding of cause-and-effect , and planning ahead). His stupid brother was Epimetheus (Hindsight); see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epimetheus .]
36. Iroquois [I pre-called this one, as the other Choices were tribes in the West, South or Southeast of the USA. See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiawatha ]
37. Great white shark [Andrew W pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_white_shark ]
38. Julius Caesar [see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar_(play) ]
39. Republic [I pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marino ]
40. Mercury [I called this one, since "Hermes"="Mercury"; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes and
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Hermian .]
41. Italy [We first went with "France", but I called "Italy" as second choice, since Louis XIV established standards for ballet and certified dance instructors in the late 1600s. See the section "History" at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballet . Luckily for us, "France" was eliminated after the first Clue, so we quickly went to "Italy"; we didn't have enough working tablets at Buster's Bar in Ottawa ON to split between the two obvious best Choices. What would be interesting is if Sites had to wait for Clues
but France was NOT the first Choice eliminated, or if France and Italy were the final two Choices remaining... Any Site have the Clues turn out this way?]
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