Mark Brader:
> For questions #1-14, I describe something and you must say what
> it is. Each of these answers is a single word. Some questions
> may have multiple possible answers, but there is an overall pattern
> or theme, and only an answer that fits will be acceptable.
The theme was "disguised eponyms", by which I mean words that are
etymologically derived -- directly or indirectly -- from a specific
person's name or title, but are not the same as that name or title.
> Question #15 is worth 2 points and will be the first tiebreaker.
> Second tiebreaker will be who scored on the hardest questions;
> third tiebreaker will be who posted first.
> Have fun.
As I confessed some hours after posting the contest, I committed a
feat of spectacular stupidity and got one of the questions wrong.
The answer to question #4 as written does not fit the concealed
sequence that question #15 is about. In penance, or something,
I added a question #16 that was effectively the intended #4.
I was abetted in committing the error by the facts that (1) the answer
I actually asked for in #4 *does* fit the theme of disguised eponyms,
and (2) no less than 7 of its 8 letters are in common with the answer
to the question that I should have asked.
Profuse apologies for the screwup.
Anyway, DAN BLUM wins the contest on the first tiebreaker.
Well done -- hearty congratulations, Dan!
> 1. This is the most populous city that is located along the
> Ohio-Kentucky border.
Cincinnati -- after Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus (c519-438 BC).
1 for Marc, Gareth, Erland, Don, Stephen, Dan Blum, Dan Tilque,
and Bruce.
> 2. This was the monarch's title in Germany, before that monarchy
> fell at the end of World War I.
Kaiser -- after Julius Caesar (100-44 BC). 1 for everyone -- Marc,
Gareth, Erland, Don, Calvin, Stephen, Dan Blum, Dan Tilque, Peter,
and Bruce.
> 3. This was the monarch's title in Russia, before that monarchy
> fell during World War I.
Tsar -- after Julius Caesar (100-44 BC). 1 for everyone.
> 4. According to the CIA World Factbook, this country contains
> just 811 km² (313 sq.mi.) of land spread across 3,500,000 km²
> (1,350,000 sq.mi.) of the Pacific Ocean. It has 3 time zones
> for just over 100,000 people and they formerly lay on both
> sides of the International Date Line.
Kiribati -- after Thomas Gilbert (whose dates of birth and death
I have not been able to find, but he was a captain in the British
navy in 1788). 1 for Don, Calvin, Stephen, Dan Tilque, and Peter.
> 5. In mathematics and computer science, this name refers to a
> defined procedure for deriving a specific result from specific
> input data.
Algorithm -- after Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (c780-c850).
1 for Marc, Gareth, Stephen, Dan Blum, Dan Tilque, and Peter.
> 6. Someone stupid, a slow learner.
Dunce -- after John Duns Scotus (c1265-1308). 1 for Dan Blum
and Peter.
> 7. Dictionaries variously describe this color in terms of two or
> more of red, pink, and purple.
Fuchsia -- after Leonhard Fuchs (1501-66). 1 for Marc, Calvin,
Stephen, and Dan Tilque.
> 8. A national park in California is named after this type of tree.
Sequoia -- after Sequoya or Sequoyah (c1770-1843). 1 for Stephen,
Dan Blum, and Dan Tilque.
"Redwood" is also a correct answer, but does not fit the theme,
as the word derives from "red" and "wood". "Joshua tree" is also
arguably correct, depending on whether or not you consider the
eponymous type of yucca plant to be a tree, and fits the theme if
the Biblical Joshua (supposed to have lived c1355-c1245 BC) was a
real person; but it is not a single word as required.
One entrant put "sequoia (or redwood)"; I decided to treat this as
one answer and a comment, making it correct.
> 9. Sometimes used as a house plant, this colorful shrub has green
> leaves, bright red bracts, and small yellow flowers.
Poinsettia -- after Joel Poinsett (1779-1851). 1 for Stephen
and Bruce.
> 10. This country lost its only section of seacoast in a war
> motivated by the fact that, due to the area's extreme aridity,
> nitrate-rich bird droppings accumulate there without being
> washed away by rain.
Bolivia -- after Simón Bolívar (1783-1830). 1 for Gareth, Erland,
Don, Stephen, Dan Blum, Peter, and Bruce.
> 11. This is a knitted sweater (or similar garment) that opens down
> the full length of the front.
Cardigan -- after James Brudenell, Earl of Cardigan (1797-1868).
1 for Marc, Gareth, Don, Stephen, Dan Blum, Peter, and Bruce.
> 12. This is the capital of Saskatchewan.
Regina -- after Victoria, Queen of the UK (1819-1901). 1 for Marc,
Gareth, Erland, Don, Calvin, Stephen, Dan Blum, Dan Tilque, and Bruce.
> 13. This German car manufacturer was founded in 1910, and merged
> in 1928 with three other companies. Its logo still refers
> to that merger, but its separate identity was later restored.
> It is now owned by Volkswagen. Name the company.
Audi -- after August Horch (1868-1951). 1 for Marc, Gareth, Erland,
Don, Stephen, Dan Blum, Dan Tilque, and Peter.
> 14. This international chain of stores has been described as
> selling furniture kits rather than furniture.
IKEA -- after Ingvar Kamprad (1926-). 1 for everyone.
This question was a bit cheeky, as the only person I *know of* who has
described the place in those words was *me*, and that was in personal
communications. But I figured that even if the same thing hasn't been
more famously said by someone else, it would be a guessable answer.
They do actually sell some items that don't require assembly.
> 15. Where the choice was not arbitrary, in what order were the
> above questions [intended to have been] listed?
By birth date of the eponymous person. (Anything along these lines
was acceptable. The order of #2 and #3 was arbitrary since both
derive from the same person's name.) 2 for Dan Blum and Bruce.
A few entrants were cheeky enough to try "in numerical order".
If that was the right answer then none of them would have been
arbitrary, or else all of them would, depending on how you look at it.
| [Added question]
| 16. In #4, What I meant to ask you for was the name of the *largest
| island* in that country. What is the name of that island?
Kiritimati -- after Jesus (c4 BC - c30).
The island is the world's largest coral atoll; it includes almost
48% of the country's area but only 6% of the population. Nobody
got this. A couple of entrants tried Tarawa; this is actually a
group of islands formed by a partially submerged atoll, of which
the subgroup called South Tarawa has 2% of the country's area but
about 50% of the population. And it does not fit the theme, as it's
a place name from the local mythology.
Scores, if there are no errors:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 TOTALS
Dan Blum 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 2 0 13
Stephen Perry 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 13
Bruce Bowler 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 2 0 10
Dan Tilque 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 10
Peter Smyth 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 9
Marc Dashevsky 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 9
Don Piven 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 9
Gareth Owen 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 9
Erland Sommarskog 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 7
"Calvin" 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 6
And now it's over to Dan for RQ 250.
--
Mark Brader The World Wide Web:
Toronto bringing you style over substance since 1993.
m...@vex.net -- Steve Summit