Mark Brader
2024-01-29 01:56:21 UTC
These questions were written to be asked in Toronto on 2023-11-27,
and should be interpreted accordingly.
On each question you may give up to two answers, but if you give
both a right answer and a wrong answer, there is a small penalty.
Please post all your answers in a single followup to the newsgroup,
based only on your own knowledge. (In your answer posting, quote
the questions and place your answer below each one.) I will reveal
the correct answers in about 3 days.
All questions were written by members of the Usual Suspects and
are used here by permission, but have been reformatted and may have
been retyped and/or edited by me. The posting and tabulation of
current-events questions is independent of the concurrent posting
of other rounds. For further information please see my 2023-05-24
companion posting on "Questions from the Canadian Inquisition
(QFTCI*)".
We wrote the Final entirely in pairs, allowing teams to select what
order the pairs were used in. There was no Canadiana category,
but Canadiana pairs were distributed through the different rounds.
In this set I wrote 8 of the 12 pairs.
** Round 2 - Geography
* A. South American Cities
A1. Name the city of about half a million in Peru's part of the
Amazon basin that is the largest city in the world that
*is not* on an island, but has *no access* by road.
A2. In which country would you find El Alto, meaning "the
heights"? It's the second-largest city in the country,
larger than the capital of which it was once a part, and
has the distinction of being the largest mostly-indigenous
city in all of Latin America.
* B. A is the Only Vowel
In these questions the "name" of a country means its usual short
name in English, like "France" or "Germany".
B1. In North and South America, including their associated
islands, there are three countries where the only vowels
in the name are instances of A. Name *either one* of the
*other two*.
B2. In Africa, including its associated islands, there are four
countries where the only vowels in the name are instances
of A. Name *any one*.
* C. Population and Spelling
Again, in these questions the "name" of a country means its usual
short name in English.
C1. What is the world's most populous country with a Z in
its name?
C2. What is the world's most populous country with an X in
its name?
* D. Canadiana: Ontario County Seats
D1. Owen Sound is the county seat of which county? Hint:
The name resembles a well-known sports trophy.
D2. Orangeville, Ontario, is the county seat of which county?
Hint: The name resembles a major street in Toronto.
* E. Lakes at Interesting Elevations
E1. This body of water in Venezuela is sometimes called the
largest lake in South America, but it's practically at sea
level and receives ocean water at high tide, so arguably
it's not a lake at all. In any case, what's its name?
E2. The other candidate for the largest lake in South America
is so far above sea level that it's the world's highest
lake navigable by large ships. What's its name?
* F. Artificial Lakes
F1. Lake Mead was created by damming what river?
F2. Lake Nasser was created by damming what river?
** Round 3 - Miscellaneous
* A. Culinary Terms
A1. What word means to lightly coat uncooked food with a dry
mixture, typically flour, cornmeal, or bread crumbs?
A2. What word means a thick creamy soup, with a base of strained
broth of shellfish or game?
* B. The Exception to the Pattern
B1. Sue Grafton wrote 25 novels about Kinsey Millhone. The
first and last titles were "A is for Alibi" and "Y is for
Yesterday", and most of the rest followed the same pattern
in alphabetical order. But the 24th book, in 2015, did
not fit the pattern. What was its full title?
B2. Once the term "Super Bowl" became official, it became
customary to refer to the annual instances of the game using
Roman numerals in sequence, for example "Super Bowl XIV".
But again, in 2015 an exception to the pattern was made.
What did they call the game that year?
* C. Crossword Words
These questions were stolen from a recent "Toronto Star" crossword.
If you disagree with the clue, please take it up with the "Star".
In each case, we give you the clue, the number of letters, and
one letter you're supposed to have already filled in in the grid.
You give the exact answer that would go into the puzzle solution.
Example: we say "Add yeast, 6 letters, 2nd letter is E"; you
say LEAVEN.
C1. "Ancient port near Carthage or a town in New York State."
5 letters, 2nd letter is T.
C2. "Put in chains." 7 letters, 3rd letter is S.
* D. Gaza
D1. The Gaza Strip has been much in the news in recent weeks.
What is its area, within 5% of the true number in either
direction?
D2. In 2005 Israel withdrew from military occupation of Gaza,
including the removal of settlers. Which Israeli prime
minister proposed, and was eventually able to implement,
the withdrawal?
* E. Prizes Established
E1. What year, within 5, were the first Pulitzer ["PULL-it-zer"]
Prizes given out?
E2. What year, within 5, were the first Nobel Prizes given out?
* F. Indian Numbers
F1. In India they generally do not express large numbers
in millions. What we call a million, they would call how
many lakhs?
F2. In India, one crore [rhymes with "bore"] equals how many
lakhs?
and should be interpreted accordingly.
On each question you may give up to two answers, but if you give
both a right answer and a wrong answer, there is a small penalty.
Please post all your answers in a single followup to the newsgroup,
based only on your own knowledge. (In your answer posting, quote
the questions and place your answer below each one.) I will reveal
the correct answers in about 3 days.
All questions were written by members of the Usual Suspects and
are used here by permission, but have been reformatted and may have
been retyped and/or edited by me. The posting and tabulation of
current-events questions is independent of the concurrent posting
of other rounds. For further information please see my 2023-05-24
companion posting on "Questions from the Canadian Inquisition
(QFTCI*)".
We wrote the Final entirely in pairs, allowing teams to select what
order the pairs were used in. There was no Canadiana category,
but Canadiana pairs were distributed through the different rounds.
In this set I wrote 8 of the 12 pairs.
** Round 2 - Geography
* A. South American Cities
A1. Name the city of about half a million in Peru's part of the
Amazon basin that is the largest city in the world that
*is not* on an island, but has *no access* by road.
A2. In which country would you find El Alto, meaning "the
heights"? It's the second-largest city in the country,
larger than the capital of which it was once a part, and
has the distinction of being the largest mostly-indigenous
city in all of Latin America.
* B. A is the Only Vowel
In these questions the "name" of a country means its usual short
name in English, like "France" or "Germany".
B1. In North and South America, including their associated
islands, there are three countries where the only vowels
in the name are instances of A. Name *either one* of the
*other two*.
B2. In Africa, including its associated islands, there are four
countries where the only vowels in the name are instances
of A. Name *any one*.
* C. Population and Spelling
Again, in these questions the "name" of a country means its usual
short name in English.
C1. What is the world's most populous country with a Z in
its name?
C2. What is the world's most populous country with an X in
its name?
* D. Canadiana: Ontario County Seats
D1. Owen Sound is the county seat of which county? Hint:
The name resembles a well-known sports trophy.
D2. Orangeville, Ontario, is the county seat of which county?
Hint: The name resembles a major street in Toronto.
* E. Lakes at Interesting Elevations
E1. This body of water in Venezuela is sometimes called the
largest lake in South America, but it's practically at sea
level and receives ocean water at high tide, so arguably
it's not a lake at all. In any case, what's its name?
E2. The other candidate for the largest lake in South America
is so far above sea level that it's the world's highest
lake navigable by large ships. What's its name?
* F. Artificial Lakes
F1. Lake Mead was created by damming what river?
F2. Lake Nasser was created by damming what river?
** Round 3 - Miscellaneous
* A. Culinary Terms
A1. What word means to lightly coat uncooked food with a dry
mixture, typically flour, cornmeal, or bread crumbs?
A2. What word means a thick creamy soup, with a base of strained
broth of shellfish or game?
* B. The Exception to the Pattern
B1. Sue Grafton wrote 25 novels about Kinsey Millhone. The
first and last titles were "A is for Alibi" and "Y is for
Yesterday", and most of the rest followed the same pattern
in alphabetical order. But the 24th book, in 2015, did
not fit the pattern. What was its full title?
B2. Once the term "Super Bowl" became official, it became
customary to refer to the annual instances of the game using
Roman numerals in sequence, for example "Super Bowl XIV".
But again, in 2015 an exception to the pattern was made.
What did they call the game that year?
* C. Crossword Words
These questions were stolen from a recent "Toronto Star" crossword.
If you disagree with the clue, please take it up with the "Star".
In each case, we give you the clue, the number of letters, and
one letter you're supposed to have already filled in in the grid.
You give the exact answer that would go into the puzzle solution.
Example: we say "Add yeast, 6 letters, 2nd letter is E"; you
say LEAVEN.
C1. "Ancient port near Carthage or a town in New York State."
5 letters, 2nd letter is T.
C2. "Put in chains." 7 letters, 3rd letter is S.
* D. Gaza
D1. The Gaza Strip has been much in the news in recent weeks.
What is its area, within 5% of the true number in either
direction?
D2. In 2005 Israel withdrew from military occupation of Gaza,
including the removal of settlers. Which Israeli prime
minister proposed, and was eventually able to implement,
the withdrawal?
* E. Prizes Established
E1. What year, within 5, were the first Pulitzer ["PULL-it-zer"]
Prizes given out?
E2. What year, within 5, were the first Nobel Prizes given out?
* F. Indian Numbers
F1. In India they generally do not express large numbers
in millions. What we call a million, they would call how
many lakhs?
F2. In India, one crore [rhymes with "bore"] equals how many
lakhs?
--
Mark Brader "'... Fifty science-fiction magazines don't give
Toronto you half the naked women that a good issue of
***@vex.net the Sunday Times does.'" --SPACE, James Michener
My text in this article is in the public domain.
Mark Brader "'... Fifty science-fiction magazines don't give
Toronto you half the naked women that a good issue of
***@vex.net the Sunday Times does.'" --SPACE, James Michener
My text in this article is in the public domain.