A list of puzzling questions
Editor’s note: We’ve kicked off a brand new thing to delight all of you who adore quizzes. Every Tuesday, we feature three questions from our quiz master Shantanu Sharma—who is a researcher-writer and has a side hustle as a professional quiz guru. He’d love to hear from you—so send your feedback/suggestions or just say ‘hi’ over at sharmashantanu312@gmail.com or @shantorasbox on Twitter.
How this works: Every correct answer is worth 10 points. If a question has multiple parts, each is worth 5 points. You have until Friday 12 pm to send in your answers to talktous@splainer.in or via DMs on Insta or Twitter. The correct answers will be published every Tuesday—as will the monthly leaderboard. The grand prize for the winner at the end of the month: a quarterly subscription for anyone of your choice—including the option of adding three months to your sub. That’s Rs 899 in value—so it’s pretty darn good:) Rule to note: this is all about who sends in the correct answers first.
The answers: to the previous week’s quiz are at the bottom.
FYI: We’re going to experiment with the difficulty of the questions until we figure out how challenging the quiz needs to be to make it fun for all of you:)
One: When the main character in the sci-fi novel (cover shown below) comes to Earth from Mars, he brings his language with him. One Martian word in particular has entered the English vocabulary since the novel was first published in 1961. It has now come to mean “deep understanding.” What’s the word, much in news because of a product launch by a tech titan—though he cites a very different source for it?
Two: Following his graduation, Bryan (seen below) worked as a morning show planner, investigative producer, and a broadcast reporter, winning not just awards but also battles against depression and alcohol addiction. But he now has a new and unusual gig following just one person, whose powerful influence is shaking up everything from culture to business and the economy?
Three: Think laterally and connect the three elements below (no points for IDing an individual). What do they have in common?
- The two men on the top row—starting from the left—are cognitive psychologists who laid the foundation of behavioural economics.
- At the top right is a sports professional who has been a big name in baseball in a variety of roles.
- The bottom pic shows one of the youngest (former) billionaires in the US.
About last week’s quiz…
Here are the answers to the inaugural edition of the splainer quiz:
One: The building in the collage below is located in Mumbai’s Colaba and was designed by Hafeez Contractor. Where would television viewers have seen this architectural icon during the golden days of Indian sitcoms? Not to be a snob, but “middle class answers” will not be entertained.
Answer: ‘Sarabhai vs Sarabhai’.
The building is supposedly Buckley Court, located in the upmarket neighbourhood of Colaba in Mumbai. This is where the Sarabhai families apparently lived in the sitcom that ran between 2004 and 2006, before being revived for the second season in 2017.
Two: Here are two images of two separate sets of siblings who founded two companies in the same year. Both enterprises went on to become vastly successful production houses and have a (very) long history of entertaining audiences around the world. For full points, name the both companies and names of the two families.
Answer: The Walt Disney Company or Disney and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc or
Warner Brothers or WB.
On the left are brothers Walt Disney and Roy Disney, who founded Disney on October 16, 1923. On the right are the Warner Brothers—Albert, Sam, Jack, and Harry—who founded Warner Bros. Pictures, Incorporated. in 1923. Both are celebrating their 100 year anniversary in 2023 with great fanfare.
Three: This role was initially offered to filmmaker and actor Jon Favreau, but he could not take it up due to other commitments. Name the actor who eventually played this iconic role, winning our hearts with his sarcastic quips and comebacks. But his personal wish was to be remembered for all the other things he’d done in his career.
Answer: Matthew Perry as Chandler.
Even before Favreau, many other actors had auditioned for the role including Jon Cryer and Craig Bierko. Matthew Perry made the character iconic with his comic timing and inventiveness, and will forever have a place in the hearts of fans worldwide. He passed away on October 28. RIP Matthew, you will be missed!
And here are the top five scorers for the second week. Congratulations!
