KQA Mega-Whats 2014 Preliminary

Mega-Whats 2014
The 5th National Open Quizzing Championships
Conducted by
The Karnataka Quiz Association
Est. 1983
Set by
Arun Hiregange and Kiran Vijayakumar

Be Careful !
These are the answer slides!

In association with
Quiz Foundation of India, Chennai
Bombay Quiz Club, Mumbai
Boat Club Quiz Club, Pune
Kutub Quizzers, New Delhi
Sunday Evening Quiz Club, Goa
Hyderabad Quiz Club and K-Circle, Hyderabad
Grey Cells, Kerala
Coimbatore Quiz Circle
Odisha Quiz Association
And the quizzing communities in Chandigarh,
Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Kolkata and
Guwahati

The Rules
1. No negatives
2. No part points
3. Last names will suffice
4. Write legibly, preferably in UPPER CASE
5. Use of electronic devices will lead to
immediate disqualification
6. Top 10 city winners + remaining top 6
from all India will qualify for the Face-off

The Design
Three sections leading to 100 points:
I. Section 1  45 x 1 = 45
II. Section 2  3 x (1 + 1 + 1) = 9
III. Section 3  1 x (1 + 1 + 1 + 1) +
21 x (1 + 1) = 46
indicates that the question continues
on the next slide.

Underlined part of answers is the
operative part

Section 1
45 questions – 1 point for each

1
Garnish the following literary joke by filling the
missing blanks.
Charles Dickens walks into a bar.
Dickens: “Please, sir, I’d like a martini.”
Bartender: “Sure thing. ____ ____ ____?”

1
“Olive or twist?”
(Give points for Oliver Twist.)

3
Shown here is the interior of the Dibble House in
Eldon, Iowa. Tell us its more popular name or the
reason it attracts thousands of visitors every year.
Visitors are not allowed inside the building and
most visitors are happy with just the outside view.
The building feature you see here should help you
find the answer.

3
American Gothic House. It was the backdrop of the
1930 painting by Grant Wood and gets its name
from the distinctive upper window.

4
This term came into common use in the 19th
century after the publication of Anne of Geierstein
by Sir Walter Scott. Scott based the name on a
scene in William Shakespeare’s play Henry VI Part
1, set in the gardens of the Temple Church, where
a number of noblemen assembled and did
something to show their allegiances. Identify the
term.

4
War of the Roses.
The men picked red or white roses to show their
loyalty to the Lancastrian or Yorkist faction
respectively.

5
This practice is considered as a poor food
etiquette in some of the Asian countries because it
resembles the ritual of incense-burning that
symbolizes “feeding” the dead and death in
general. What bad table manner are we talking
about? People often use pieces like these on the
table to avoid this practice.

5
Keeping chopsticks vertically stuck into a bowl of
rice or other food.

6
This word comes from Old English for the godparents of
one's child or the parents of one's godchild, generally very
close friends. Its verb form first appears in A Midsummer
Night's Dream by Shakespeare: "And sometime lurk I in a
____'s bowl / In very likeness of a roasted crab / And when
she drinks, against her lips I bob / And on her withered
dewlap pout the ale." According to the Oxford English
Dictionary, his usage was very specific: "a woman's female
friends invited to be present at a birth." Giving birth used to
be a social (ladies only) event, in which a pregnant
woman's relatives and neighbours would gather. As with
any such gathering, a particular practice was bound to
happen and thus it acquired the current meaning. What?

7
This country’s national flag was inspired by the
three-pronged design in the chasubles (outer
vestments) worn by priests in both the Catholic
and Anglican church. According to the designer
Fred Brownell, a significant change was based on
his daughter’s suggestion: “Dad, use your brain!
People will stand that on its head and turn it into
the nuclear peace sign. The middle leg must go.”
Which country are we talking about?

8
This word roughly means “atoning for educability
through delicate beauty”. It was coined in the
1960s by brothers Richard and Robert Sherman,
who indicated that the origins of the word were in
their memories of creating double-talk words in
their childhood. Identify this word which entered
the Oxford English Dictionary in 1986. (It's
extraordinary! It *does* make you feel better!)

8
"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" from the 1964
film Mary Poppins, in the song was written by the
Sherman Brothers.

9
October 25 is a day on which many famous battles
were fought. In 1147, Seljuk Turks defeated German
crusaders under Conrad III at the Battle of Dorylaeum.
In 1415, the army of Henry V of England defeated the
French at the Battle of Agincourt. In 1747, British fleet
under Admiral Sir Edward Hawke defeated the French
at the second battle of Cape Finisterre. 1854 had the
Battle of Balaklava (Charge of the Light Brigade) during
the Crimean War. The day is famous under the name of
the twin Christian saints martyred in 286. Identify the
day.

9
Saint Crispin’s Day, the feast day of Crispin and
Crispinian.

10
Which 19th century work has now occupied a
continuous 21 weeks (as of May 18, 2014) in the
New York Times Non-fiction (combined print and e-
book) bestsellers list? Its peak position of #1 was
during the weeks ending March 23 to April 6.

10
Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup.

11
It is believed that this tradition started from a
victory of the Serenissima Repubblica against the
Patriarch of Aquileia, Ulrico di Treven in the year
1162. It now involves Bauta, Columbina, Medico
della peste, Moretta, Volto (Larva), Pantalone,
Arlecchino and Zanni. From the mid-1500s, the
‘flight of the Turk (Angel)’ marked its start. An
accident involving the Turk changed the event to
the ‘flight of the Dove’ in 1759. From 2001, it
became the ‘flight of the Angel’ again. What are we
talking about?

11
Carnival of Venice.
(Bauta, Columbina etc. are the types of masks.)

12
The world’s tallest Ferris wheel opened to the
public on March 31, 2014. It is located at the Linq
in Las Vegas. What appropriate name (a two-word
term), from the world of gambling, has been given
to it?

13
The earliest recorded use of this scheme comes
from 1725 when the name of the biblical founder
of Israel, who ruled from 931-910 BC, was used.
This usage was probably because he is referred to
as "a man of great worth". Many sources mention
a Champenois poet of the middle ages, Eugene
Destuche, whose poems were popular and inspired
his townfolk to use this scheme. What are we
talking about?

13
The naming of wine bottles.

14
With length ranging from 10 to 26 inches, these are
usually made of a lightweight wood, fiberglass or
carbon fiber which is tapered to a grip called a “bulb"
that is usually made of cork or hard wood. The usual
way of holding it is between the thumb and the first two
fingers with the grip in against the palm of the right
hand. It is not considered as a essential instrument of
the trade – there are occasions where a tooth brush
and a fly swatter have been used as alternatives. A
famous user is believed to have commented that it
“must be a living thing, charged with a kind of
electricity, which makes it an instrument of meaning in
its tiniest movement”. What are we talking about?

14
Batons used by music conductors.

15
Erwin Perzy I, a surgical instruments mechanic,
accidentally created it in 1900 as a result of an
experiment to try to improve the brightness of the
newly invented (and then not very bright) electric
light bulb. He was inspired by the shoemakers of
the time, who to get more light from a candle
mounted a glass globe filled with water in front of
the flame. He used semolina, a common baby
food, and found an interesting behaviour when it
was soaked by the water. What did he thus create
using these materials?

16
What prompted one Anna Bertha Ludwig to
exclaim to her husband “I have seen my death!” in
1895?

16
Seeing her hand’s X-ray taken by her husband
Wilhelm Röntgen.

17
The scientific
name of this plant
is Dionaea
muscipula. The
genus name
Dionaea means
“daughter of
Dione”. What does
the species name
(in Latin)
muscipula mean?

17
Mousetrap. (The plant is Venus flytrap.)

18
Paint Hall Studios in Belfast has been the main
studio for the Game of Thrones series since 2010.
In the early part of the 20th century, this area
witnessed another large-scale development
project, one whose launch required 22 tons of
soap and tallow and was cheered by 100,000
people including J. Pierpont Morgan. What
‘project’ are we talking about?

19
On 25 May, 1955, when Joe Brown and George
Band successfully completed a quest for the first
time ever, they honoured a promise given to the
Maharaja of Sikkim. That promise has never been
broken since. What promise are we talking about?

19
They would stop short of the summit of
Kangchenjunga.

20
Petra tou Romiou (Rock of the Greek) is a sea
stack in Pafos, Cyprus. The combination of the
beauty of the area and its status as the birthplace
of ____ makes it a popular tourist location. A local
myth is that any person who swims around the will
be blessed with eternal beauty. But since the sea
here is generally rough, tourists are advised not to
swim there. Take a close look at the picture and fill
in the blank.

21
Boris Spassky probably described the peculiar
dynamics of these chess pieces best when he
explained away one of his multiple divorces as
“My wife and I had already become like ____”.
Which two pieces that cannot ever interact with
each other did he refer to?

21
Bishops of opposite colours.

22
This practice originates from horse-racing in the
United Kingdom, where an entrant in a one-horse
race run under Jockey Club rules had to do this
before being awarded victory. Such an outcome
was quite common at the time when there was no
guaranteed prize money for horses finishing
second or third: there was no incentive to run a
horse in a race it could not win. What term
originates from this practice?

22
Walkover. The horse had to "walk over" the course
at least once.

23
What did the then Prime Minister of New Zealand,
Robert Muldoon, describe as "the most disgusting
incident I can recall in the history of ____", going
on to say that "it was an act of true cowardice and
I consider it appropriate that the ____ were wearing
yellow". The giveaway words have been blanked
out, but what was the PM talking about?

24
Who is depicted here delivering a lecture, in an
1850 caricature from Punch?

24
Sir Richard Owen, who came up with the term
Dinosauria.

25
• Bal Secret Agent 555 Ranga, Ganga & Shirazi in
India
• Teen Nanhay Suraghrasaan (known as Umber,
Naseem & Aaqib) in Pakistan
• Tin Goyenda (known as Kishor Pasha, Musa
Aman & Robin Milford) in Bangladesh
How do we know them better?

26
These stamps (printed from 1905 to 1938) were
used for parcels sent from which place?

27
Pliers, nutcrackers and tongs: these implements
are each built using different classes of what?

28
This distinctively coloured fruit (a variety of Citrus
sinensis) comes in the Taracco, Moro and
Sanguinello varieties. Work out what this fruit is
commonly called.

29
What connects the following?

30
The Stegodon (“roofed tooth”) was thought to be
one of the early ancestors of the elephant and
mammoth. There were many species of this
animal. The one found the Indian subcontinent,
depicted here in a 1951 stamp, got its name from
mythology. What was it called?

31
____ pagarus or the Edible Crab is one of the most
commercially important crabs. Fill the blank with
the genus in which this species belongs.
Incidentally, most crabs once belonged to this
well-known genus but they now have been
reclassified over six genera.

32
This classic French
dessert piles
sweet chestnut
puree on top of
meringues and is
finished with whipped
cream on top. It is
named after its
supposed resemblance
to a mountain. Name
the dessert / mountain.

33
Ibn ____ (or Averroes in Latin), was a philosopher
born in Cordoba, Spain and known for integrating
Islamic traditions with Greek thought. He produced
summaries and commentaries on Aristotle’s and
Plato’s works. The above blanked part of his name
was adopted as the family surname by a famous
author’s father. Give the blank or the surname.

34
He is sometimes known by the nickname “The
Rat", "Super Rat" or "King Rat" because of his
prominent bucked teeth. He has been associated
with both Parmalat and Viessmann, sponsoring
the ever present cap he has worn since 1976 for a
specific reason. In a 2009 interview he revealed
that an advertiser pays as much as Euro 1.2
million for the space on his famous red cap. Who,
depicted in a cartoon on the next slide?

35
A short poem by Herman Melville about what
creatures of the sea (usually found as shown in
the visual)?
“They have nothing of harm to dread,
But liquidly glide on his ghastly flank
Or before his Gorgonian head;
Or lurk in the port of serrated teeth
In white triple tiers of glittering gates,
And there find a haven when peril's abroad,
An asylum in jaws of the Fates!”

36
Which bone in the human body got its name
possibly because of one of these reasons:
• It is usually the last bone of a buried body to
rot and therefore had religious importance;
• It was used as a vessel in ancient religious
ceremonies?

37
It is a two-word phrase which kept popping up in
all the news articles about Michael Schumacher’s
accident. It refers to skiing in the backcountry on
snow that has not been compacted into tracks. It
is therefore considered more dangerous than
skiing on known tracks. The second word in this
phrase, that refers to ski strips or tracks, also
refers to the narrow rectangular playing area or
strip of an entirely different Olympic sport. Give us
the two-word phrase.

38
The rather haggard looking person on the right is
Judy Garland a couple of years before her drug
induced death. Who is the writer on the left?

39
Senile squalor syndrome is a complex spectrum of
behaviours found in persons who are living
reclusively. It is characterized by an extreme self-
neglect of environment, health, and hygiene,
combined with a compulsive hoarding of refuse
and the patient’s complete denial of his or her
surroundings or symptoms. What is the alternate
name of this syndrome, from the name of a Greek
philosopher who lived his life with simplicity and
autonomy?

40
These 21 elements have a specific connection.
What is it? (Ignore the colouring.)

40
The Periodic Table by Primo Levi.

41
Connect the state of Oklahoma in the USA, the
Handley Page Hampden bomber and the blank in
the cartoon. One word.

42
Which of the 30 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in
India has the word “living” in its official name on
the UNESCO list?

42
Great Living Chola Temples.

43
The state bird of Manipur is named after Mary
Anne Grindall (1823-1890), though it doesn’t refer
to her directly. Just name the bird (shown here).

44
Which Indian entity (honoured in the stamp) would
you associate with such gems?
• On the bend, go slow friend
• Drive like hell and you’ll be there
• Let your insurance policy mature before you
• If married, divorce speed
• Better be Mister Late than Late Mister
• Safety on the road is safe tea at home

45
South of a temple, on the
wall at the sea shore, you
will find this pillar. On the
top, a couple of pointers
indicate that between the
temple and the South
Pole there is no land, only
the Arabian Sea and the
Indian Ocean. Name the
temple.

Section 2
3 questions with 3 parts each – 1 point
for each part
Order of answers a) b) c) matters

?
Drop letters off one of the ends of an answer to
get the next answer. For example, answers could
be:
a) Pinky
b) Pink
c) Ink

1
a) In which country would you find Lake Volta,
which is the world’s largest artificial water
reservoir by area? Lake Volta itself is located
along the Volta region of the country.

1
b) What has been blanked out here?

1
c) Ethnic Chinese even nowadays refer to
themselves by the name of this dynasty that
lasted for about four centuries. Which
dynasty?

2
a) These chocolatey marshmallow Graham
cracker sandwiches are staples of scout
campfires in the USA and are said to be
named because you will never be happy with
just one of them. Name them (plural).

2
b) Fill the blank in this quote attributed to Cicero
who was railing against corruption of that age.
The quote translates to “Oh the times! Oh the
customs!”.

2
c) Who was this
cricketer
retaliating
against in this
famous
incident?
Surname will do.

3
a) Mandrake the
magician was trained
at the Collegium
Magikos in a hidden
valley in Tibet by a
grandmaster who
was later revealed to
be his father. Name
this (at least) 333
year old.

3
b) These water birds differ from cranes in that
they have longer necks and tend to hold them
retracted rather than straight while flying.
Generic name?

3
c) This is perhaps the first steam engine
invented by man. This was in about 150 BC
and was probably only used for effect in
temples. Who was the inventor?

Section 3
1 question with 4 parts and 21 questions
with 2 parts each – 1 point for each part
Order of answers a) b) does not matter

1
Using a ‘royal’ connection, identify the animal, the
city, the type of building and the vein shown here.

1
Basilisk lizard.
Basel.
Basilica.
Basilic vein.

2
What 2 terms come from their placement in a
typical income statement? The first term refers to
a company’s gross sales or revenues while the
second term refers to the net earning or profits. A
sample income statement shown here should help
you in figuring out the terms.

3
He was introduced to astrology by the English
writer Clifford Bax, when the two were holidaying
in Majorca in the spring of 1913. He became quite
a devotee of the subject, and liked to cast his
friends' horoscopes for fun. He used Alan Leo's
book What is a Horoscope? as a springboard for his
own ideas, as well as for the subtitles in his work
soon after. The famous ‘exclusion’ in this work can
be explained by the fact that the concept of the
work is astrological rather than astronomical.
Who? What ‘exclusion’?

3
Gustav Holst.
Earth not being a part of The Planets.

4
The inspiration is said to have came from
something his daughter did while he was
convalescing from a duodenal ulcer. He was at a
private nursing home called St Cuby in the coastal
town of Broadstairs, Kent. There was a wooden
staircase leading down to the beach. His 6-year
old daughter, who had just learnt to count
properly, went down them and gleefully
announced: “There are ____." Who? What did he
come up with?

4
John Buchan.
The Thirty-Nine Steps.

5
According to popular mythology (read ‘the PR
machinery of the country’), the four pockets represent
the virtues cited in the classic Guanzi: propriety, justice,
honesty and shame. The five centre-front buttons
represent the branches of government: legislation,
supervision, examination, administration and
jurisdiction. The three cuff-buttons symbolize the
Three Principles of the People: nationalism,
democracy, and people's livelihood. Unlike Western
counterparts, it has a single layer symbolizing the
country's unity and peace. Who was instrumental in
popularising it and gave its traditional name? Whose
name got associated with it later because of his affinity
for wearing it in public?

5
Sun Yat-sen.
Mao Zedong.
The item of clothing is the Mao suit or the
Zhongshan suit.

6
The Throne Chair of Denmark, located in the Castle
of Rosenborg in Copenhagen, is the physical
representation of the Throne of the Kingdom of
Denmark. According to legend, it is made of the
____. In reality, it is made from ____. The former is
the body part of a mythical creature, while the
latter is the body part of a real-life creature. The
scientific name of the latter creatures is based on
the Greek name of the former creature. Identify
both creatures.

6
Unicorn horns.
Narwhal (Monodon monoceros) tusks.

7
Granita is a 1959 parody of a famous work. It is said to
be a manuscript was given to publisher by the warden
of the local jail in a small town in Piedmont. This
excerpt should help one identify the work: “Granita.
Flower of my adolescence, torment of my nights. Will I
ever see you again? Granita. Granita. Gran-i-ta. Three
syllables, the second and third forming a diminutive, as
if contradicting the first. Granita, may I remember you
until your image has become a shadow and your abode
the grave.” Identify its fictional narrator, the name
being a direct Italian translation from the original. And,
then identify the author of the parody.

7
Umberto Umberto.
Umberto Eco.
(Granita is a parody of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita.
Umberto is Italian for Humbert.)

8
Originally intended as a one-shot “cheap" satire of a
feature in glossy magazines such as Playboy, National
Geographic and Life, it first appeared in 1964 and
looked at Elizabeth Taylor dumping Eddie Fisher and
carrying on with Richard Burton. Soon the creator was
asked to do another and it still continues. He once
commented, “The thing that I got a kick out of was...
Jeopardy! showed a ____ and the contestants all came
up with the word they were looking for, which was
‘____’. So I realized, I created an English language
word.” Give us snappy answers to these stupid
questions: Who? What (both blanks are same)?

9
Among capital cities, Paris, Stockholm and
Copenhagen are the only ones to be honoured in
this manner. Among countries, France, Germany
and Poland are the only ones. (Some might argue
to add France again and Russia too.) What honour
are we talking about? Which is the only river to be
honoured thus?

9
Naming of chemical elements.
Rhine (for Rhenium).
The elements referred to in the question are
Lutetium, Holmium and Hafnium (capital cities)
and Francium, Germanium and Polonium
(countries). Gallium may be named after France
(or Lecoq) and Ruthenium is named after Rus.

10
Who is the subject of this 1964 series of
photographs by John Deakin? The most famous
use of these was in the news recently. What use
are we talking about?

10
Lucian Freud. Francis Bacon used these as a
reference for Three Studies of Lucian Freud.

11
Identify this instrument. The same name is used
by the French to refer to another similar-shaped
metallic object almost 100 times smaller in size.
What?

12
The Jim Pattison Group is Canada’s largest
privately held company. Two of their properties
have been perennial favourites of trivia lovers.
Both started out in the print medium, expanded to
television and have museums for promotion as
well. Identify both.

12
Ripley Entertainment (of Ripley's Believe it or Not!
fame).
Guinness World Records.

13
A November 19, 1955 article in The Economist begins
thus: “It is a commonplace observation that ____. Thus,
an elderly lady of leisure can spend an entire day in
writing and dispatching a postcard to her niece at
Bognor Regis. An hour will be spent in finding the
postcard, another in hunting for spectacles, half-an-
hour in a search for the address, an hour and a quarter
in composition, and twenty minutes in deciding
whether or not to take an umbrella when going to the
pillar-box in the next street. The total effort which
would occupy a busy man for three minutes all told
may in this fashion leave another person prostrate after
a day of doubt, anxiety and toil.” Identify the missing
phrase and the author.

13
“Work expands so as to fill the time available for
its completion.”
Cyril Northcote Parkinson.

14
This is the foyer area of a hotel which has been
intimately associated with a famous tournament:
its owner started it, initial editions were held here
and players typically stayed here even when it
started to be held elsewhere in the town. Name the
town/tournament.
The hotel itself gets its name from a general who
married a local princess not far from this town the
day before going into battle against the Roman
empire. Name the general/hotel.

14
Linares.
Hannibal / Anibal.

15
After a brief spell at Supermarine, where he did not get
along with RJ Mitchell, the designer of the Spitfire, he
joined Vickers-Armstrong. There he hit upon an idea:
rather than building an aircraft structure on the
principle of a beam which supports an external
aerodynamic skin, he developed a new type of structure
which had the structural members formed within the
aerodynamic shape itself. These members followed
____ curves in the surface, the shortest distance
between two points in the curved surface. Who was the
designer? What curves?

15
Geodesic / Geodetic curves.
Barnes Wallis.

16
One of the Nobel prize winning co-inventors of a
device explained its concept to a student in this
way: “If you take a bale of hay and tie it to the tail
of a mule and then strike a match and set the bale
of hay on fire, and if you then compare the energy
expended shortly thereafter by the mule with the
energy expended by yourself in the striking of the
match, you will understand the concept of ____.”
What was the device? What fills the blanked out
concept, i.e. aim of the device?

16
Transistor.
Amplification.
The quote is by Shockley.

17
Infancy, whining schoolboy, lover, soldier, justice,
old age, second childishness: these put together
are known by a phrase. This concept (phrase) is
the subject of a monologue in a 17th century play.
The first line of the monologue is very famous.
The sculpture on the next slide depicts this same
concept. Identify the concept. Identify the first
line.

17
“All the World’s a Stage”.
Seven Ages of Man.

18
A certain method of cooking was first described in
1799 by an American-born British scientist who
was made a Count by the Holy Roman Empire,
knighted by King George III and who for a brief
while was married to the widow of Antoine
Lavoisier. Name the scientist. Name the method of
cooking that translates to “under vacuum” and
involves heating the food gently in airtight bags
for a long time.

18
Count Rumford / Benjamin Thompson.
Sous vide.

19
Only sixteen players in the history of test cricket
have managed this feat. Of these, three are
Indians. The first two were Bhagwat
Chandrasekhar and Ajit Agarkar, so that should tell
you what kind of achievement this was. What feat?
Who was the third Indian?

19
King Pair / Golden Pair in Test cricket.
Virender Sehwag.

20
The coat of arms of Spain contains different
heraldic devices to denote various regions of the
country. Take a look at the visual and identify the
fruit / plant shown at the bottom. Also identify the
region this plant represents.

21
Two plays by Vijay Tendulkar have two-word titles
with the second word being an occupation. Name
them.
• A Brahmin from Aurangabad who moves to
Pune to secure the favour of Nana Phadnavis.
• A central male character who doesn’t believe
in marriage and who offers abandoned women
food and shelter but with no good intentions.

21
Ghashiram Kotwal.
Sakharam Binder.

22
This building used to serve as the palace of the
rulers of Awadh. Now it houses the Central Drug
Research Institute. In which city would you find it?
Identify the building that is named for the shape of
its domes, said to represent a household
implement.
[BTW, the funky Nemo-esque contraption in the
foreground was the royal boat.]

22
Lucknow.
Chattar Manzil / Umbrella Palace.

The End
Quickly go back over the questions.
Swap answer sheets for corrections.

KQA Mega-Whats 2014 Preliminary

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