New Scaratings

15 Questions, 1000 Points each, Points decrease rapidly from 4 to 20 seconds after appearance of Choices and with 3 Clues:

[Note: the 8:00-8:30 Tuesday time slots in December 2018 were used for COUNTDOWN Games with cash prizes in the USA, so there were no BRAINBUSTER Games.]

1. Izmir and Samsun are chief ports in this country:___________________.
[Choices: Paraguay, Ukraine, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Algeria ]

2. John the Baptist earned Herod's enmity because he disapproved of the King's:___________________.
[Choices: Marriage, Cruelty, Idolatry, Tax laws, Debauchery ]

3. The Third Hellenic Republic is the official name of:____________________.
[Choices: Greece, Switzerland, Cyprus, Armenia, Malta ]

4. Drambuie is a liqueur made from:__________________.
[Choices: Scotch whisky, Port wine, Rum, Plum wine, Calvados ]

5. Which disease directly affects the thyroid?___________________
[Choices: Thomas', Pound's, Eliot's, Watins', Graves' ]

6. "Flappers and Philosophers" was the first short story collection by:________________________.
[Choices: F. Scott Fitzgerald, J.D. Salinger, Ernest Hemingway, O. Henry, Katherine Anne Porter ]

7. Wiltshire is the location of this famous world heritage site:___________________.
[Choices: Balmoral Castle, Stonehenge, Loch Ness, White Cliffs of Dover, Windsor Castle ]

8. Which comet was discovered in 1995?_____________________
[Choices: Kohoutek, Halley's, Hale-Bopp, West, Encke ]

9. The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas divided the Americas between _________________ and _______________.
[Choices: Russia - Poland, Italy - Switzerland, Spain - Portugal, Holland - Germany, France - England ]

10. This writer's "The Spy" was the first U.S. novel to make an international impact:__________________.
[Choices: Henry James, James Fenimore Cooper, Mark Twain, Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe ]

11. In 1870, it became the last former Confederate state to be readmitted to the Union:__________________.
[Choices: Maryland, Virginia, Arkansas, Georgia, Ohio ]

12. Humans have a total of __________ cervical vertebrae.
[Choices: Two, Three, Seven, Five, Nine ]

13. In medicine, the "R" in "SARS" stands for:___________________.
[Choices: Respiratory, Reflux, Radial, Rupture, Recessive ]

14. What type of animal is the macaque?_________________
[Choices: Lizard, Monkey, Armadillo, Wild cat, Seabird ]

15. In what year did China institute its "Great Leap Forward"?___________
[Choices: 1958, 1973, 1949, 1986, 1965 ]






Answers:

1. Turkey [Andrew C (GRYFON) at Buster's Bar, Ottawa ON called this one; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izmir and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsun ]

2. Marriage [I (REACH) pre-called this one; see the story in the section on the Gospel according to Mark at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Baptist . John the Baptist criticized Herod Antipas for taking as his wife the ex-wife of his brother (a somewhat similar situation occurred when Henry VIII married Catharine of Aragon who had been married to Henry's older brother, Arthur. This was the excuse that Henry used to divorce Catharine so that he could marry the younger Anne Boleyn). This criticism of course earned the hatred of Herod's wife who asked her daughter, Salome, to ask for the head of John the Baptist as a reward for her great dancing exhibition.]

3. Greece [Myfanwy (SPRAJO) called this one first; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Hellenic_Republic ]

4. Scotch whisky [Dave (YELDOR, TULADI) called this one; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drambuie ]

5. Graves' [Andrew C called this one, noting that all 5 Choices were the last names of poets; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graves'_disease ]

6. F. Scott Fitzgerald [Most of us guessed this from "Flappers"; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flappers_and_Philosophers and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Scott_Fitzgerald ]

7. Stonehenge [I pre-called this one; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge ]

8. Hale-Bopp [We all agreed on this, from the year 1995; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Hale-Bopp ]

9. Spain - Portugal [I pre-called this one; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Tordesillas ]

10. James Fenimore Cooper [I was a little slow in guessing, losing my 78 Points for the game on this Question. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spy_(Cooper_novel) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Fenimore_Cooper . Note: the last Clue at about the 200 Point mark was "Natty Bumppo", which might not have helped unless you knew that Natty Bumppo was
aka "Hawkeye".]

11. Georgia [I guessed right on this one, for 1000 Points. See https://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/ ... war-108886 ]

12. Seven [Andrew pre-called this one; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cervical_vertebrae ]

13. Respiratory [Andrew pre-called this first; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_ac ... y_syndrome ]

14. Monkey [I pre-called this one; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaque ]

15. 1958 [I pre-called "late 1950s"; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Leap_Forward . According to this article, Chairman Mao's Great Leap Forward caused the deaths of 18 to 56 million people.]