Connections Quiz

[Mac]

Alright guys, standard connection rules - something non-trivial
(person/place/event/fantasy/blah/blah) relates each of these sets. You
have to determine the connection.

(E) 1. Connect : Jacques Chirac, Kirk Douglas, Eddy Merckx, Sean
Connery.

(E) 2. Connect : Pi, Pym, Parker.

(M) 3. Connect : Sergey Brin & Larry Page, Bill Gates, Satan.

(M) 4. Connect : Mark Knopfler, Jenghiz Khan, Arthur C. Clarke, Steven
Spielberg.

(H) 5. Connect : Adam and Eve, Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, Marcus
Aurelius and Faustina the Younger.


Scoring : Easy(E) - 1 point, Medium(M) - 2 points, Hard(H) - 3 points.
Early bird bonus - 1 point (for the first person to crack 3
connections)

For any un-cracked ones, I can supply hints tomorrow if you want. Have
fun!

Mac

[Manish Amde]

Quick question - Is there one common connection or multiple connections between the elements of a set ?

[Manmohan Chandraker]

To answer Manish's question .... there is one common connection. All the elements of a set share a common trait, or feature in a common event, or there is some event with which they are associated, or .... It might be straightforward - like Apples, Oranges, Grapes (all fruits). Or convoluted - like Sachin, Schumi, Enzo Ferrari (both Sachin and Schumi drive a product of Enzo Ferrari's company). But they cannot independent - like Banana, Orange, Rasgulla (Banana and Orange are fruits, while Orange and Rasgulla are juicy - this is an incorrect connection). 1, 4, and 5 are straightforward connections, while 2 and 3 are slightly twisty. Basically, regardless of the complexity, each connection can be succinctly stated as a simple sentence. Mac --- On Mon, 8/25/08, Manish Amde <mani...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Manish Amde]

Thanks for the explanation Mac.

First attempt. Could be grossly off the mark since I am taking on the hard one.
Connection: sibling rivalry amongst their children leading to death. Adam and Eve - Cane killed Abel, Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal - Aurangzeb killed Dara, and Marcus Aurelius and Faustina (got this from Wiki) - Commodus killed Lucilla to further their interests.

[Manmohan Chandraker]

Crax scene!! 3 well-deserved points to Manish! Q.5 is now off-limits, early bird bonus still available for 3 correct answers.

[Manish Amde]

2. Life of Pi - Pi Patel, Richard Parker, Had to wiki to find that the Parker character was based on Edgar Allan Poe's book "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket". Peter Parker aka Spiderman and Pym are Marvel comic characters but could not connect Pi using that angle. I was surely sent on a wild goose chase !!

Gosh, if I could only solve 4 - can't get sleep thinking of it.  :-) Not being a big movie/sci-fi fan has me handicapped.

On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 6:13 PM, Mac <mac...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>

[Manish Amde]

4. Shangri-la. Tag-team effort with Machi (Kiran). I will let Mac do the explaining or will do the explaining tomorrow (this was super difficult).

[Kiran k]

Answer to Q.1 : All of them are caricatures/ characters who've appeared in various Asterix comics. [ Kirk Douglas threw me off coz i haven't read Asterix and Obelix: All at sea but a reference or two solved that]

--
Q:Ever imagine what would happen if it were conclusively proven that hell didn't exist?
A:All hell would break loose.

[Mayank Kabra]

Hmm.. I wonder.. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7580745.stm

[Manmohan Chandraker]

Hmm, Shangri-La is a good try, but incorrect as far as I know. Remember that the connection has to be concrete, not an incidental name similarity. For example, if A makes pots, we won't consider pottery to be a connection between A and Harry Potter. I guess you refer to the Mark Knopfler song and Spielberg's Lost Horizon movie, which is a valid connection. But Clarke, hmm, there is a moniker Project Shangri-La in one of his stories, which is only a name similarity. And I miss the connection of Jenghiz Khan to Shangri-La. But for a very nice try, Manish and Machi get 0.5 points each! Mac

[Kiran k]

what about the asterix answer? thats right, isnt it? or did i miss something?

[Mayank Kabra]

Is it dinosaurs?

[Manish Amde]

Well if you did not like the connection between Clarke and Shangri-La then the Jenghiz Khan connection might be embarrassing. :-) Anyways, will keep thinking about it till somebody else cracks it.

[Manmohan Chandraker]

Since a couple of you asked, Q.4 is still open. Kabra guessed dinosaurs which is not a valid connection by itself. You need to tell the specific relation (that is, every element of the set participates in the same "event"). Q.3 is also open, although a couple of people have cracked it outside public domain. I will post the answers and final scores tomorrow morning. Mac --- On Tue, 8/26/08, Mayank Kabra <mayank...@gmail.com> wrote: Is it dinosaurs?

[Nikhil Rasiwasia]

> (M) 4. Connect : Mark Knopfler, Jenghiz Khan, Arthur C. Clarke, Steven
> Spielberg.

All of them have a huge fan following, albeit jenghiz khan has huge
*followings*.
;)

[Kiran k]

Q.4 : Dinosaur names ( though I can't find any connection for Genghis Khan - there is a dinosaur named Khaaan McKennai - but it was named after the Star Trek villain Khan from the movie "Wrath of Khan" rather than Genghis Khan).  Anyway, barring this one, all the other finds are and have been used as evidence for the existence of the supercontinent of Gondwana in the late Jurassic - Cretaceous period. [ Steven Spielberg is connected via the dinosaur originally named Jurassosaurus nedegoapefermia , now called Tianchisaurus nedegoapefermia ( from the first two letters of the names of the cast of jurassic Park) ] Knopfler and Clarke have dinsoaurs from the Cretaceous - found in Madagascar and North Australia - named after them, serving as further proof of the existence of Gondwana.

Cheers,
 Kiran