Damn hard quiz.

January 2, 2004 4:16 AM

King William's College annual quiz. Every year the students of King William's College on the Isle of Man are quizzed before xmas. The average score is apparently 2/180. The kids are then supposed to come back with all the answers after the holiday. Try it - it's pretty hard. (You'll have to wait another couple of weeks for the answers I'm afraid)
posted by biffa (41 comments total)

6.1: pi
12.1: Lord
17.2: Boltzman

50% better than average (if I'm right). Not bad...
posted by Orange Goblin at 4:32 AM on January 2, 2004

18. In 2003:
2 who was stitched up after a managerial tantrum? David Beckham

5 who was tempted to recommend Schultz as a concentration camp commandant? Silvio Berlusconi

6 who, sadly, can no longer advise us to eat the hamburger and throw away the bun? Dr. Atkins

7 who got in through St George's after a quick change in the Highlander? Aaron Barschak

8 whose failure to avoid dying has ruined his career? Bob Hope?
posted by dash_slot- at 4:56 AM on January 2, 2004

Researching the answers to these questions must be infinitely easier since the internet came into being.
posted by mert at 5:00 AM on January 2, 2004

I like the series on the apostles. Once you realize what it is you can know off a dozen in short order.
posted by RavinDave at 5:07 AM on January 2, 2004

er "know off" = "knock off"
posted by RavinDave at 5:08 AM on January 2, 2004

The village blacksmith is sheltered by a chestnut tree. Longfellow. The Norman cathedral one is Monet, I believe.

Yes, it will be easier with the internet, especially if MeFites post all the answers in one place!
posted by loafingcactus at 5:22 AM on January 2, 2004

I like the series on the apostles. Once you realize what it is you can know off a dozen in short order.

13.1 Matthew (Levi is the Hebrew, Matthew the Greek)
13.2 Andrew (brother of Peter)
13.3 James
13.4 Philip
13.5 Simon Peter
13.6 Judas Iscariot
13.7 John
13.8 Jude
13.9 Thomas
13.10 Matthias
posted by marcusb at 5:36 AM on January 2, 2004

Who composed:

4.2 Maple Leaf Rag: Scott Joplin
4.7 One O'Clock Jump: Count Basie
posted by planetkyoto at 6:05 AM on January 2, 2004

5.5 Bunny from the Pincipality: Welsh rabbit (rarebit)
posted by planetkyoto at 6:06 AM on January 2, 2004

Here's the link for last year's quiz as posted on MeFi. Not really a double post since it's a new quiz every year.
posted by orange swan at 6:10 AM on January 2, 2004

5. What culinary delicacy misleadingly suggests:

1 sugary loaves? - Sweetbreads

2 Maharashtrian poultry? - Bombay Duck

3 a citrous dairy product? - Lemon Curd

5 a bunny from the Principality? (tips hat to Planet Kyoto)

7 a partly concealed amphibian? - Toad in the Hole

9 a dachshund in season? Hot dog?

10 satanic riders? - Devils on Horseback

Why so good on the food questions? **burps... waddles off, scratching head**
posted by bifter at 6:20 AM on January 2, 2004

Oh funny- I'm in America, so my answer for the citrus dairy was Orange Julius.
posted by loafingcactus at 6:24 AM on January 2, 2004

I think we can get them collectively. Here's my contribution:

2.4: Davy
2.5: Braille
2.6: Gallo or Montaigner

3.6: Monet?

5.1: Sweetbreads
5.7: Toad in the hole
5.9: Hot dog?

6.3: micrometre
6.6: Alpha waves

12.1: LOTR
12.5: The man with the golden gun ?
12.9: The spy who came in from the cold

15.4: Gottedammerung
15.10: Roast beef

17.5: Nobel?
17.8: Queen Christina(?) of Sweden
17.10: Linnaeus

18.6: Atkins
posted by ptermit at 6:26 AM on January 2, 2004

Without googling, I can add...

4.3 Duke Ellington
4.9 Jelly Roll Morton
4.10 W.C. Handy

(y2karl will supply the rest for this section...)
posted by bendybendy at 6:27 AM on January 2, 2004

5.2 Bombay Duck
5.9 Hot Dog?
6.1 Pi
18.3 DNF in his first GP
18.6 Dave Thomas from Wendy's?
18.8 Paramalt

I think
posted by riffola at 6:28 AM on January 2, 2004

Here's an online compendium of answer-suggestions, posted by a Patrick O'Brian discussion group.
posted by SealWyf at 6:42 AM on January 2, 2004

Here are my guesses, for what it's worth (no Googling)...

In which town did van Aeken adopt his natal city's name? I think this is Hieronymus Bosch, so the town would be Bosch.

In which city might one wait at Sants? Barcelona

Mildred Harris, Lita Grey, Paulette Goddard, ... Chaplin

And here's a clue to no. 17: Sweden
posted by Termite at 6:43 AM on January 2, 2004

Wonderful. Just what I needed, to start the new year feeling ignorant. I could only get a tiny few - all of which are already here.
Though I think can add 5.6 - Mince pie. (the brits call hamburger meat mince, but a mince pie is sweet and not made of "ground ungulate flesh")
posted by CunningLinguist at 6:50 AM on January 2, 2004

I did this over christmas, and did pretty well, getting over 50%.

Some hints to the sections:
6) The answers all involve greek letters (e.g. 6.1 Pi, 6.2 Kappa)
7) Dutch towns (e.g. 7.1 Arnhem)
8) Horse-related answers, ( e.g. 8.1 Crazy Horse)
9) Railway stations
10) Trees
11) Black things (e.g. 11.10 The black mamba)
13) Disciples
14) ??? Help - latin ???
17) Famous swedes (17.1 = Founder of Ikea)
posted by BigCalm at 6:55 AM on January 2, 2004

Mildred Harris, Lita Grey, Paulette Goddard, ... Chaplin

I think this one must be Oona O'Neil - chaplin's last wife, the 14 year old or whatever she was.
posted by CunningLinguist at 6:56 AM on January 2, 2004

15.9 - Mountolive. (The names of the novels in Lawrence Durrell's "Alexandria Quartet.)
posted by dnash at 6:56 AM on January 2, 2004

The ones I worked out without the aid of google (and aren't mentioned above) are:
2.10 Gregor Mendl (pioneered Genetics)
5.6 Mince pies
6.10 Iota
17.1 Founder of Ikea
18.1 Sir Ranulph Fiennes (ran 7 marathons in 7 days)
18.2 David Beckham
18.3 Sky-diver who flew across the english channel
18.4 Andrew Hall ??
18.10 Euro referendum vote.
posted by BigCalm at 7:07 AM on January 2, 2004

Mildred Harris, Lita Grey, Paulette Goddard, ... Chaplin

I think this one must be Oona O'Neil - chaplin's last wife, the 14 year old or whatever she was.

Damn! You're right. She was 18, though, not 14.
posted by Termite at 7:14 AM on January 2, 2004

Most of the ones I got have already been got by others. To add, (I think)
7.7 Arnhem
8.6 Wooden Horse/Gym Horse
posted by biffa at 7:18 AM on January 2, 2004

8.2: 8 horse power
8.7: Canada-U.S border (Yukon Territories and Alaska)
18.1 is whoever those two are who ran those 7 marathons on the 7 continents in 1 week.
posted by cardboard at 7:29 AM on January 2, 2004

6.3 - mu (from symbol for micron)
6.4 - omega
6.5 - gamma
6.10 - epsilon

17.2 - Boltzmann, I think.
posted by andrew cooke at 7:41 AM on January 2, 2004

8.9 Horsehead nebula (though there are probably several not so famous in this rich area). --Astronomy's a hobby of mine.
posted by lathrop at 8:03 AM on January 2, 2004

17.2 ain't Boltzmann. It's the Arrhenius equation. (The Swede thing helped jog my memory.)
posted by ptermit at 8:14 AM on January 2, 2004

6.1 pi
11.8 a pimple
15.10 wee, wee, wee

I have justified my education!
posted by dness2 at 9:01 AM on January 2, 2004

14.1 Teresa
14.3 Penelope (?)
14.10 Gregory

11.6 Capt. Brassbound
posted by casarkos at 9:34 AM on January 2, 2004

15.10: market, home, ... , none.

Roast Beef (piggies).

I'd post more but I mostly dupe what's up there.
posted by Dipsomaniac at 9:50 AM on January 2, 2004

15.10: market, home, ... , none.

Roast Beef (piggies).

oh. right. roast beef.
Where did I get wee, wee, wee from?
posted by dness2 at 9:53 AM on January 2, 2004

11.8 is a blackhead, not a pimple.
posted by cardboard at 10:06 AM on January 2, 2004

They went wee, wee, wee all the way home y'see.

Hmm.. Is this years test a heck of a lot easier than last years, or have I just accrued more useless knowledge in Uni? I'll type up my random guesses after dinner.. Mmm.. Food..
posted by Mossy at 10:26 AM on January 2, 2004

2.5 Louis Braille
5.6 Mincemeat pies?
6.3 Micrometer?
10.4 Willows
11.8 Pimple
12.1 Gorthaur the Cruel
13.8 Paul (Peter & Paul are commemorated June 29)
15.4 Gotterdammerung
15.10 roast beef
posted by Fley Mingmasc at 10:39 AM on January 2, 2004

Mossy, I agree. This has to be a lot easier than previous years. Either that, or each year students deliberately set out to do badly on it.
posted by peeping_Thomist at 10:59 AM on January 2, 2004

2.3 Could this be Christian Barnard, who performed the first heart transplant?
2.6 Luc Montagnier, co-discoverer of HIV
2.9 As Koch's bacillus is TB, this is probably streptomycin, discovered by Selman A. Waksman and Albert Schatz
posted by tabbycat at 12:42 PM on January 2, 2004

15.7 The only one I got so far that is in addition to what's been entered above is the fourth of Eliot's Four Quartets, Dry Salvages.
posted by JollyWanker at 5:56 PM on January 2, 2004

Not too bad ... got 18 (or 19). They were mostly music-, food- and cocktail-related questions, unsurprisingly:

2-6. Dr. Luc Montaigner (& Dr. Robert Gallo)
4-2. Scott Joplin
4-5. Paul Barbarin
4-7. Count Basie
4-8. Kid Ory and Ray Gilbert
4-9. Jelly Roll Morton
4-10. W. C. Handy
5-1. sweetbreads
5-3. lemon curd
5-6. mincemeat pie (?)
5-7. toad in the hole
6-1. pi
6-3. one micron
6-5. Horse's Neck, but it's an entire spiral of lemon, not just a twist
12-1. Lord of the Rings
15-4. Gotterdammerung (Wagner's Ring cycle)
15-5. Oona O'Neill (wives of Charlie Chaplin)
15-10. roast beef (little piggies)
18-6. Dr. Atkins
posted by chuq at 6:10 PM on January 2, 2004

18.4
Shane Warne
posted by johnny7 at 6:52 PM on January 2, 2004

18.4
Andrew Hall (South Africa; against England)

johnny7: Warne made his 99 in the Perth test against New Zealand 30 Nov-4 Dec 2001.

(The other 99 in 2003 was Asim Kamal. My first guess was Agit Agarkar.)
posted by bright cold day at 4:49 AM on January 5, 2004