Mark Brader:
> For this contest I'll go back to the scoring that I used in RQ 251,
> meaning that the hardest questions people can answer will probably
> be the ones that decide the contest.
>
> That is, each question is worth the same number of points --
> whatever is the smallest number that allows scoring in integers --
> but those points will be *divided equally* between all entrants who
> get it right. For example, say there are 4 entrants. Then each
> question will be worth 12 points, and if you are the only one to
> answer it correctly, you get all 12. In this case if 2 people
> answer correctly, they each get 6 points; if 3 do, they each get 4;
> and if all 4 get it, that's 3 points each.
Exactly as in RQ 251, there were 7 entrants -- in fact, they were
the same 7 -- so each question was worth LCM(1,2,3,4,5,6,7) = 420
points, divided equally between everyone who got it.
> There are 22 questions in this quiz, but a lot of them should be
> easy. They are listed in random order within each of two groups,
> but I won't tell you how many are in each group.
> Note that some questions will provide details, but not necessarily
> the most relevant ones; others will just be hints. In either case,
> you must name whoever, or whatever, it is that I'm describing or
> hinting at.
> If you look in the right place you can find a hint to the theme
> which all answers must fit.
The hint was in my response to the RQ 257 results, when Dan Blum
wrote that I "may set RQ #258 at his convenience" and I replied
"Roger wilco". As everyone no doubt knows, this is old-time
airplane radio talk; "Roger" was "R" in some old spelling alphabet
and means "message Received", and "wilco" means will comply".
And as I wrote those words I came up with the theme of this quiz.
All questions in the first group, which was #1-18, asked for people
or fictional characters named Roger; and in the second group, all
answers (or to be exact the required part) start with "Wilco".
I thought two of the Wilco questions were absurdly hard, but that
didn't keep Stephen Perry from scoring on them. Which he did not
even need in order to WIN THIS QUIZ. Hearty congratulations!
> 1. This American New Wave writer won multiple Hugos, including
> one for "Lord of Light".
Roger Zelazny. 105 for Dan Tilque, Dan Blum, Gareth, and Stephen.
> 2. This executive was the other title character of Michael Moore's
> first documentary.
Roger Smith. ("Roger & Me". "Me" was Moore, and Smith was the CEO
of GM at the time.) 140 for Dan Tilque, Marc, and Stephen.
> 3. This 91-year-old has hundreds of movies (or TV-movies or
> direct-to-video movies) credited to him as a producer or
> director, including "Death Race 2000" in 1975, and 4 sequels or
> remakes up to this year's "Death Race 2050". While his career
> has been described as "Six Decades of Schlock", people who have
> worked with him have included Martin Scorsese, Jack Nicholson,
> Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Ford Coppola, James Cameron, and
> Ron Howard.
Roger Corman. 105 for Dan Blum, Marc, Gareth, and Stephen.
> 4. In the original novel he was censored, but in the movie he
> was framed.
Roger Rabbit. 60 for everyone -- Dan Tilque, Peter, Dan Blum, Marc,
Gareth, Calvin, and Stephen.
> 5. "For you are beautiful, and I have loved you dearly, more dearly
> than the spoken word can tell."
Roger Whittaker. (Singer; lyrics from "The Last Farewell".)
210 for Marc and Stephen.
> 6. Dallas player, MVP of the VIth event.
Roger Staubach. (The reference is to Super Bowl VI). 105 for
Dan Tilque, Dan Blum, Gareth, and Stephen.
> 7. 61*.
Roger Maris. (The reference is to his record for the most home runs
in a season, but a season that was longer than the one when Babe Ruth
set the previous record at 60.) 84 for Dan Tilque, Dan Blum, Marc,
Gareth, and Stephen.
> 8. He was the first to tile the plane aperiodically with only
> two different tiles, using a pattern with fivefold symmetry
> about its center.
Roger Penrose. (See <
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PenroseTiles.html>.)
70 for Dan Tilque, Peter, Dan Blum, Marc, Gareth, and Stephen.
> 9. When he wasn't chosen to succeed Walter Cronkite as anchorman
> for the main CBS newscast, this man moved to NBC. For about a
> year their newscast was co-anchored by Tom Brokaw in New York
> and him in Washington.
Roger Mudd. 140 for Dan Tilque, Marc, and Stephen. Chuckle points
to Gareth for "Roger Sthesauraus".
> 10. This 13th-century Englishman was a Renaissance man before there
> was a Renaissance. He advocated that science should be based
> on experiment; he worked in philosophy, astronomy, alchemy,
> and math; he conceived machines that would not be practical
> for centuries; but his work in optics was particularly important.
Roger Bacon. 70 for Dan Tilque, Dan Blum, Marc, Gareth, Calvin,
and Stephen.
> 11. If you were married to Brigitte Bardot, wouldn't you make at
> least a couple of movies starring her?
Roger Vadim. ("...And God Created Woman" and "Plucking the Daisy",
both in 1956; and three more movies after their divorce in 1957.)
105 for Dan Blum, Gareth, Calvin, and Stephen.
> 12. Some say GOAT.
Roger Federer. ("Greatest" tennis player "Of All Time".) 140 for
Peter, Gareth, and Stephen.
> 13. Until recently he was the only person to have run Fox "News".
Roger Ailes. 84 for Dan Tilque, Dan Blum, Marc, Gareth, and Stephen.
> 14. He was a regular on "The Mothers-in-Law" until he was fired
> for demanding the studio pay him the amount specified in his
> contract; but fans of the original "Star Trek" may best remember
> him as Harry Mudd.
Roger C. Carmel. 420 for Stephen.
> 15. Who he?
Roger Daltrey. (Singer and prime founder of the Who.) 420 for
Stephen.
> 16. Dead, now dead.
Roger Moore. (Reference to "Bond, James Bond" and his recent demise.)
105 for Dan Tilque, Peter, Dan Blum, and Stephen.
> 17. The fat one, who worked for the Sun-Times.
Roger Ebert. (Gene Siskel of the Tribune was the thin one.)
70 for Dan Tilque, Peter, Dan Blum, Marc, Gareth, and Stephen.
> 18. He held a world record for 46 days in 1954.
Roger Bannister. (Running 1 mile in 3:59:59.4. Then John Landy
did it in 3:57.9, offically rounded up to 3:58.0.) 60 for everyone.
> 19. This British writer, now living in Colorado, specializes in
> the subject of bicycle racing. Several of his books are about
> Lance Armstrong; another is "World of Cycling".
John Wilcockson. 420 for Stephen.
> 20. This "alternative rock" band was formed in 1994 by former
> members of Uncle Tupelo. Singer Jeff Tweedy has been with them
> ever since. Albums include "Blue Sky Blue" and "Star Wars".
Wilco. 210 for Gareth and Stephen.
> 21. At the end of "The Lord of the Rings", Sam marries Rose Cotton.
> In the appendices you may learn that her brother known as Jolly,
> and her uncle known as Will, actually both had the same name.
> What was it?
Wilcome Cotton. (See Appendix C.) 420 for Stephen.
> 22. An Iron Maiden he.
Dennis Wilcock. (Read it the same way as #15.) 210 for Gareth
and Stephen.
To keep the width of the score table reasonable, I'll arbitrarily
split it after question 12.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Stephen Perry 105 140 105 60 210 105 84 70 140 70 105 140
Gareth Owen 105 0 105 60 0 105 84 70 0 70 105 140
Marc Dashevsky 0 140 105 60 210 0 84 70 140 70 0 0
Dan Tilque 105 140 0 60 0 105 84 70 140 70 0 0
Dan Blum 105 0 105 60 0 105 84 70 0 70 105 0
Peter Smyth 0 0 0 60 0 0 0 70 0 0 0 140
"Calvin" 0 0 0 60 0 0 0 0 0 70 105 0
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 TOTALS
Stephen Perry 84 420 420 105 70 60 420 210 420 210 3,753
Gareth Owen 84 0 0 0 70 60 0 210 0 210 1,478
Marc Dashevsky 84 0 0 0 70 60 0 0 0 0 1,093
Dan Tilque 84 0 0 105 70 60 0 0 0 0 1,093
Dan Blum 84 0 0 105 70 60 0 0 0 0 1,023
Peter Smyth 0 0 0 105 70 60 0 0 0 0 505
"Calvin" 0 0 0 0 0 60 0 0 0 0 295
And now it's over to Stephen for RQ 259. If you please, sir...
--
Mark Brader A real Canadian science-fiction plot would be
Toronto about whether alien visitors were a federal or
m...@vex.net a provincial responsibility. --Duncan Thornton