BCQC March 2014 . Prelims - Annotated version

questionable intelligence . BCQC. 2014 . ramanand@gmail.com

Questionable Intelligence

The March Open QuizPrelims+Answers

Annotated Version!16th March 2014

J. Ramanand

What is an “annotated version”*?

*insert expletive here

I’m a quizzer. I’ve stopped offering apologies for it. In conversations with (the admitted small number of) non-quizzers who know me, I am found trying to explain the kind of quizzing that I like doing. I am usually found failing at this.

There are those whose only public view of me is via online media, which invariably and exclusively involves posts about quizzing, ever since the decline of my personal blog. Which is why they ignore me, unfriend me, or silently mouth vituperative phrases about me.

I’ve always felt that quizzing, in the way that some of us do it, isn’t as arcane as it is misinterpreted. Like with cryptic crosswords, once someone shows you how it is done, they will see (cue: heavenly light of enlightenment). The aim is to get people to figure out/get comfortable with this process. I wouldn't ask most of these qns for an audience I know is not regularly quizzing, but this isn’t wholly out of reach either.

I did this quiz in March 2014, and thought I might try posting a version of the questions with some notes on how to solve them. Or figure out that yes, this is irremediably arcane.

This is for the occasional quizzer, the budding student quizzer, the non-quizzer.

Presumptuous, perhaps. Let’s find out.

These are 26 preliminary questions that I did for a quiz organized by the BCQC, Pune.

Each question appears on a slide – you can take a shot at them. On the following slide are some hints and a possible approach. The third slide in the triplet will have the answers, with some final notes.

Since this is a “General quiz”, questions range around a variety of topics. Some of them claim to have clues within them, and hence hold the possibility of ‘working the answer out’.

In computer science terminology, if a set of eight bits is called a ‘byte’, what is a set of four bits called?

How to attempt solving this

Assuming you believe this can be worked out, what facts in the question can you spend time on? Naturally the word “byte”, which sounds like “bite”.

What word could signify “half a bite”? is a question that has probably formed in your head by now.

Answer

A Nibble

(makes sense? “Nibble” is a little bite. Perhaps “peck” would make a good guess too. Good guesses, though not rewarding points-wise, are better than uneducated guesses)

Two special (Indian) National Tourism Awards were announced in 2013 to the director of a 2012 film and a writer associated with it, for promoting Munnar and Pondicherry as tourist destinations. Which film?

During the prelims, I gave out the clue that this was a non-Indian film. Again, assuming this is a reasonably well-known film (or else let’s stone the QM), what to take out? Shot in South India. Awards in 2013. Based on a book. Made India famous, so story presumably set in India too. Extremely well photographed, likely.

Answer

Life of Pi, to Ang Lee & Yann Martel

Those of you who’ve seen the film perhaps see how this makes sense with the clues. (Life of Pi is partly set in Pondicherry, an unusual location even for Indian films.)

Those of you who haven’t heard of the film or book: rush, as they say, to the nearest exit and thence to the online store.

According to Islam, Iblis was a type of ‘jinn’ who was expelled from Paradise because he refused to obey Allah’s orders to bow to Adam. What word was therefore applied to Iblis?

This is harder than it looks. What do I know of Islamic mythology, you ask? Once again, let’s trust the ‘pitch’ – assume this is something you may know about.

So: some kind of a bad chap in Islam. What could fit?

Answer

Shaitan

Known to most Indians, I am sure.

What suffix is applied to monstrously large 100 x 100 Sudoku puzzles? (i.e. they are called “Sudoku-___ puzzles” – fill in the blank).

This relies more on your knowledge of Japanese culture than Sudoku. Why Japanese? Because Sudoku originates from Japan – that may not be your first line of thinking, but that is essential here.

What are the clues here? 100x100 (something to do with googol?) puzzles? Monstrously? Hang on…

Answer

Sudoku-zilla

You are familiar with the sizeist monster “Godzilla”, I hope. OK, this is perhaps a hard one to get right, but again, the trick is to be able to generate some plausible options without getting too stuck, and then picking the best of what you have.

By the way, this isn’t a strict term; I think someone created it as the title of a book about monstrously large puzzles of that size. Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich have purchased the screen rights to it, I hear.

In which language is the name of Switzerland written on coins of the Swiss Franc?

Probably a tough one, depending on what you know about Switzerland and languages. But hopefully, nice to learn about, which is also one of the aims of going to a quiz, apart from strutting about and showing off your knowledge about “Breaking Bad” (eh, what is that?).

Let’s see: if you can’t work this out, then just guess a European language. Those of you who collect stamps may have come across the Swiss name on them (“Helvetia”). Those of you who’ve gone cuckoo over Swiss cheese may know that Switzerland has a lot of local languages compared to the avg. European state.

AnswerLatin. Switzerland has

four official languages (German, Italian, French, and Romansh), so the coin is language-neutral.

As a quiz-setter, I like this question because it captures a little bit about the underlying socio-political structure of Switzerland and also brings in the neutrality aspect that the country is famous for.

This is the flag of which organization?6

This is deceptively devoid of any clues, so again, put your faith in the pitch.

Stare closely at the picture – it doesn’t seem as much as a stylized set of objects as it looks like a stylized set of letters. Also, this is an ‘organization’.

AnswerOPEC

If you didn’t see that, go back a slide – you will spot it. It’s in your face. Just like OPEC is.

In the Chota Bheem series, this lady is the mother of Chutki and her laddoos are the victim of Bheem’s sweet tooth.

Which yesteryear Hindi film singer-actress shares her name with this character?

In the Chota Bheem series, this lady is the mother of Chutki and her laddoos are the victim of Bheem’s sweet tooth.

Which yesteryear Hindi film singer-actress shares her name with this character?

This q is ideally suited for teams with wide variance in age. If you are not in one of them, then your best bet is to think of a former singer-actress. There are, I fear, quite a lot of them, but are all of them so large?

[Perhaps toughest on those participants who are too old to have missed the Chota Bheem revolution and too young to have enjoyed this actress’s antics]

AnswerTun Tun

Identify this avid quizzer who won the 1985 IIT Delhi Director's Gold Medal.

Image: IIT Delhi

Identify this avid quizzer who won the 1985 IIT Delhi Director's Gold Medal.

Image: IIT Delhi

Ok, possibly famous guy. I don’t know any avid quizzers except the jerk who set this quiz, so ignore that red herring. 1985 – so in his 50s now.

Now let’s look at him closely: try ageing him, remove moustache, lesser hair may be, more beard may be.

Looks like an intelligent guy, despite that quizzer part.

Answer

Raghuram Rajan, present RBI Governor

Image: FirstPost.com

Aged well, don’t you think?

Who is welcoming whom, during the latter’s visit to this centre?

(June 1970)

Image: Wikipedia

Who is welcoming whom, during the latter’s visit to this centre?

Image: Wikipedia

Clearly something to do with space, given the guy at the back. You need to identify a lady and the gent. Here’s where general awareness/schoolboy knowledge will help. The lady – there are very few of them who fit that timeline – is perhaps easier to guess, due to lack of options. The gentleman: 1970? Famous? What would make this answer really cool?

Answer

Valentina Tereshkova (first woman in space)Neil Armstrong (first man on the moon)

(at the Yuri Gagarin Centre in Russia)

What’s nice about this photo is that despite the USSR-USA space race, they managed moments like these: Armstrong was invited over after winning the moon for the US. Yuri Gagarin is a good option too, but it’s not as cool as a photo of a Russian cosmonaut and the US astronaut.

This is Malala Yousufzai addressing a conference at the United Nations in July 2013.

She is wearing a shawl that once belonged to whom?

This is Malala Yousufzai addressing a conference at the United Nations in July 2013.

She is wearing a shawl that once belonged to whom?

If you know anything about Malala, it would be that she is Pakistani, and a symbol of Pakistani girls. If the shawl “once belonged to someone”, it’s worth wondering if that someone is still around.

Answer

Benazir Bhutto, the former Pak PM.

How many Pak women in public life do you know? (If the answer is “lots”, then you are certainly well aware. Shabaash.)

This is a bureaucratic rendition of the opening lines of a famous literary work. Which work?

“____, ____ with refulgent conflagrationin the nocturnal afforestationkindly provide details regarding nature of supernatural identityresponsible for your design and technology”

This is a bureaucratic rendition of the opening lines of a famous literary work. Which work?

“____, ____ with refulgent conflagrationin the nocturnal afforestationkindly provide details regarding nature of supernatural identityresponsible for your design and technology”

Tough one, no doubt. But let’s attempt. Bureaucrats are notorious for using long words where smaller ones would do. If you’ve finished your Dilip Oak’s GRE word list, you may be able to translate some of the words into simpler English. Clearly, an English poem. The first two words are not given, indicating this is hard to translate without giving it away.

Answer

‘Tyger Tyger Burning Bright’ by William Blake

Tyger, tyger, burning bright. In the forests of the night,. What immortal hand or eye. Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

According to the Chicago Manual of Style, an “orphan” line is the first line of a paragraph that appears on the bottom of a page by itself (the rest of the paragraph is on the next page). What name is given to the opposite case where the last line of a paragraph appears alone on the next page?

One of those questions where it should be possible to come up with a plausible guess. What could be the opposite of an ‘orphan’? Someone older perhaps, OR someone who has lost children (is there a word for it?), etc.

Answer

To be honest, there’s no clear cut logic behind such terms – but it kind of makes sense. (I hope.) Best not to over-think these matters.

Arjuna, from the Mahabharata, was nicknamed “Savyasachi”. What ability, also seen in sportsmen such as

Sachin Tendulkar Kobe Bryant Ronnie O’Sullivan Paolo MaldiniJonny Wilkinson

does this refer to?

Arjuna, from the Mahabharata, was nicknamed “Savyasachi”. What ability, also seen in sportsmen such as

Sachin Tendulkar Kobe Bryant Ronnie O’Sullivan Paolo MaldiniJonny Wilkinson

does this refer to?

So it’s a skill of some kind. Since, out of this list, you are perhaps most familiar with Sachin, think of aspects associated with him.“Savyasachi” – hmm, Sanskrit. What does the word mean? Something to do with “sach” (truth?)

Answer

Ambidexterity (can use both hands/feet equally well)

The “truth” angle didn’t get us anywhere, but hopefully it struck your mind that Sachin writes with his left hand while batting right handed. This is a skill that sportsmen might find useful.

One possible guess might be “sharp”-ness, since Arjuna was involved.

I considering putting in hints such as “this helps double their skill” etc., but found it too much pandering.

This 2006 Malayalam film is named after its lead character, a tough cop played by Mohanlal. The character’s last name is a tribute to his own mother (this helps the film indulge in what is known in Tamil movies as ‘mother sentiment’).

In a strange coincidence, this film’s name is the same as a Pune-based industrialist. What name?

This 2006 Malayalam film is named after its lead character, a tough cop played by Mohanlal. The character’s last name is a tribute to his own mother (this helps the film indulge in what is known in Tamil movies as ‘mother sentiment’).

In a strange coincidence, this film’s name is the same as a Pune-based industrialist. What name?

Local question, since this is set in Pune. So unless you know your Malayalam/Lal-ettan films, let’s try to work this out: This character’s last name has to also be a possible female name (“Kiran”-types). That rules out Pune industrialists such as Rahul Bajaj or Lila Poonawalla.

Answer

Baba Kalyani

This formerly princely state in Satara district is home to the Shri Bhavani Museum, boasting of several articles of European and Indian art, including works by Henry Moore and Raja Ravi Varma. What is this former state, which shares its name with a part of Pune?

Simple, just pick a part of Pune to guess. Be done with it.

Answer

Aundh, as it turns out

Because his cameos were much anticipated and ruined the mood he was trying to create in his films, Alfred Hitchcock began appearing earlier than before in his films, usually within the first 30 minutes. In an episode of “Koffee with Karan”, Mahesh Bhatt says a similar strategy was used by his production house for something (in some of their films). For what?

What aspect of films related to the Bhatt production house could you identify? Music (usually crowd-pleasing), somewhat sleazy esp. with the Emraan Hashmi brand of films, …

Answer

Emraan Hashmi’s mandatory kiss in their films was done with as early as possible so as to get on with the rest of the story.

I found this to be a very interesting piece of trivia: it’s a nice way to talk about Hitchcock’s clever strategy (Hitchcock was all about commercial success in his day after all), how film genres evolve, and someone like Mahesh Bhatt who straddles all these highbrow and lowbrow worlds.

(BTW, in his interviews, Emraan Hashmi comes across as being very erudite and intelligent)

The first ever question asked was:“Who are all of the ____ employees”

It was answered by Adam D’Angelo as:Adam D'Angelo, Charlie Cheever, Rebekah Cox, and Kevin Der

Fill in the blank.

The first ever question asked was:“Who are all of the ____ employees”

It was answered by Adam D’Angelo as:Adam D'Angelo, Charlie Cheever, Rebekah Cox, and Kevin Der

Fill in the blank.

It’s very hard, at first glance, to figure out what area this fits into – but it is something to do with questions and an organization with employees. Possible options: some quiz contest? Some company/place to ask questions?

AnswerQuora, the Q&A website (Adam, the CEO,

answered the test qn on their site, naming himself and his colleagues)

In hindsight, this question’s framing is a little too cryptic – nothing much to hold on to in terms of clues. If it clicks – the business could be a site – then you might have a chance.

What does the ‘G’ stand for in this advertisement featuring Novak Djokovic?

[video removed]

The ad shows Djokovic using a very powerful racquet – it’s fair to assume that the composition of the racquet is at the heart of the “G” mystery.

AnswerGraphene

This is a super-material which apparently makes racquet frames very light. Graphene (not to be mistaken with Graphite) is all over the place in emerging materials technology.

Not all that guessable, but hopefully, something to be learn about.

Considered by some to be “the most memorable Bond girl ever”, who is seen here receiving an honorary BAFTA award in April 2013 from Sir Kenneth Branagh, for services to film and television?

Think of Bond girls – this dame looks a little old, so think older Bond girls.

Also think of possible red herrings. Look at the background behind.

AnswerQueen Elizabeth II

Ah, so yes, a bit of a trick question. The Queen appeared beside Bond during the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony, and so despite not being strictly a Bond girl, hopefully this was a nice way to approach this.

This vegetable is an important symbol in Taiwan, because the country’s shape is often compared to it.

Which vegetable?

Image: Wikipedia

This vegetable is an important symbol in Taiwan, because the country’s shape is often compared to it.

Which vegetable?

Image: Wikipedia

Your best bet is to think of different vegetables that might fit this shape, and guess. Given the geography, you may also think of vegetables that is used in Chinese cuisine.

AnswerSweet Potato

This may not be the most obvious thing to guess, or be something that you closely identify with Chinese cooking. Or maybe you did know this or get lucky with your guessing.

Image: bonappetit.com

Edward Tufte is renowned for his data visualizations. He is also a sculptor. He held an exhibit called “All Possible Photons: The Conceptual and Cognitive Art of _____ _____”.

Here are some examples from it. What are the words in the blank?

Image: Edward Tufte

…contd. Image: Edward Tufte

Image: Edward Tufte

Clearly something to do with Physics (‘photons’) and diagrams. If you know a little bit about the subject, then perhaps something comes to mind? (it’s not a very obscure topic for enthusiasts of science)

Answer“Feynman Diagrams”. The physicist Richard Feynman created

these diagrams to depict Quantum Electrodynamic concepts. In one instance, he put them on a van (Tufte seen below with Feynman’s van)

If you didn’t know this, or don’t know of Feynman, you should definitely read up more about one of the most influential physicists of all time.

Image: Edward Tufte

What were Sachin Tendulkar and Roger Federer backing? 22

nothing to do with tennis or cricket? 2020 looks like a reference to the year. Who is the lady next to RF?

AnswerSquash’s bid to be included in the

2020 Olympics. If you’ve read about sports like wrestling fighting to stay or be included in the Olympics for 2020 – squash was one of them. The lady is Nicol David, world no. 1 in squash.

In 1922, Leonard Jennings, a British sculptor, created a sculpture of soldiers to mark the contributions of the princely states of Jodhpur, Mysore, and Hyderabad to the Empire during World War I. In 1930, another building came up near this landmark to house the Commander-in-Chief of the British military in India. Which place, and who was the last resident of this place?

Several likely clues. Some kind of famous sculpture? Doesn’t say where in India – but since it housed the C-in-C, probably the capital i.e. New Delhi. There were three states – when you see a list, always try to see if the number is useful. All princely states – something to do with war or royalty? Was the last resident the Army chief, or some kind of leader? May be Indians stayed there after independence? The q says “last” – does that mean no one stays there anymore, or there was someone who still stays there? “Was” – so probably not occupied.

Answer

Teen Murti Bhavan, the residence of Jawaharlal Nehru until his death. It now houses a museum to his memory.

“teen murti” – “3 statues”. The first part is more guessable than the person.

Image: Wikipedia

In Olympic records (Summer and Winter) from 1956 till 1964, this team (represented by a flag with Olympic rings in it) is identified by the code “EUA”. Which region did this team represent?

So this team briefly took part in the Olympics. This suggests that either they represented a country that no longer existed, or they represented a group of people who could not or were not able to take part under their country’s name. Since the flag had Olympic rings on it, likely that this is not about a country (or a country whose Olympic association is suspended). What was the geopolitical nature of the world then? What continent could this region be in? What can we make of the letters ‘E’, ‘U’, and ‘A’?

Answer

The Unified Team of Germany(Équipe Unifiée d'Allemagne)

A tough one to get purely by working it out – an educated guess could work here. This acronyms was French-based, making it harder.

I found this very interesting, which is why it’s in the quiz.

This word of interest to quizzers was created by the writer Norman Mailer and defined as:

“facts which have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper”

And anecdotally as:

“something that everyone knows is true, except it ain't!”

What word?

This word of interest to quizzers was created by the writer Norman Mailer and defined as:

“facts which have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper”

And anecdotally as:

“something that everyone knows is true, except it ain't!”

What word?

Where do you start here? It could be anything which means “a fact which can’t be trusted”. Think of such words or prefixes – “apocryphal”? “un-”, “something fact”, “counterfactual” etc.?

AnswerFactoid

Often used (incorrectly) as a “little fact” or “little piece of information”.

“___ ____ syndrome : idiopathic facial paralysis during pregnancy”

This 2006 paper by Hellebrand et al studies the increased incidence (“up to 3.3 times”) of Bell’s Palsy during pregnancy.

(Bell’s Palsy: weakness or paralysis of muscles on side of the face)

What are the missing words above?

“___ ____ syndrome : idiopathic facial paralysis during pregnancy”

This 2006 paper by Hellebrand et al studies the increased incidence (“up to 3.3 times”) of Bell’s Palsy during pregnancy.

(Bell’s Palsy: weakness or paralysis of muscles on side of the face)

What are the missing words above?

The missing words possibly indicate the name of a person – may be someone whose face is notable for something. Does that person have paralysis? Got to be a woman, right? Because of the pregnancy part?

AnswerMona Lisa

One conjecture is that the enigmatic Mona Lisa smile is because the subject was pregnant and had Bell’s Palsy

(a popular wrong guess was Sylvester Stallone – fits a lot of the criteria except for the ‘woman’ part. Had it not been intended as a slightly tough qn – this is a competitive prelims after all – I would have liked to provide more clues. Throw in words such as ‘enigmatic’ or ‘famous woman’.

Image: Wikipedia

What did you think?The act of writing these notes helped me analyse several things about these questions: how accessible they were, what could be a particular route to answering a question, how amenable some questions were to ‘working out’, compared to others, and striking a balance between offering the quiz to know-it-alls and work-it-outs.

Tell me if you found this useful/loathful in any way, and if it changed the way you look at some of this kind of quizzing.

Like Prince Charles and African Elephants, I’m all ears. Email me at ramanand@gmail.com

A non-annotated version of this prelims is available here. The finals are available here.

Questionable IntelligencePrelims End

Infinite Zounds

J. Ramanand

BCQC March 2014 . Prelims - Annotated version

Education

Transcript of BCQC March 2014 . Prelims - Annotated version

1st Prelims

Bcqc september open items quiz - finals

The bcqc march open quiz

Prelims. Cases

MASTERMINDZ PRELIMS

BCQC July 2014 Cricket quiz - Arnold D'Souza - 3/3

The BCQC March 2012 Open quiz Elims

IAS Prelims Exam 2012: General Studies …images.jagran.com/jagranjosh/ias-prelims-exam-general...IAS Prelims Exam 2012: General Studies Question Paper-II (CSAT) 21 IAS Prelims Exam

Cybermania Prelims

MCQs - prelims

Bcqc september open items quiz - elims - answers

Prelims final

BCQC Questionable Intelligence (Mar 2014) Prelims with Answers

Hyd Prelims

Prelims Probability

Fore Prelims

Prelims VP

BCQC Questionable Intelligence (Mar 2014) Finals

Gq prelims

The BCQC History – Geography Quiz 2017 Prelims