A list of puzzling questions
Editor’s note: Every week, 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.
One: Think laterally and connect the following elements (Note: the list is not exhaustive):
a) A popular social network
b) Winners of an annual event in the US
c) The corner points shown in this diagram
Two: Name this futuristic vehicle—and its connection to the flagship venture of one of the leading tech mavens of the 21st century.
Three: Connect the following elements:
a) The founder of a holy grail for film nerds
b) The founders of a streaming service popular among gamers
c) The shooting of a production company’s iconic trademark
About last week’s quiz…
Here are the answers to the third edition of the splainer quiz:
One: Which multi-record holding maestro is the common connection among the following films?
Answer: John Williams
Legendary composer and conductor John Williams has won 5 Academy Awards (Oscars): ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ (1972), ‘Jaws’ (1976), ‘Star Wars’ (1978), ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’ (1983), and ‘Schindler's List’ (1994). He has 54 nominations so far, including his five wins, the most for any living person. His nomination for ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' at this year’s Oscars makes him the oldest person to ever be nominated at the age of 91.
Two: Think laterally and connect the following elements:
a) A retired diplomat
b) A 19th-century French novelist and playwright
c) Likely the most iconic screenwriting duo of Hindi cinema
Answer: Slumdog Millionaire
Vikas Swarup's debut novel Q&A was adapted into Slumdog Millionaire, winning eight out of ten Academy Awards for which it was nominated. After a 35-year career in the Indian Foreign Services (IFS), he retired from government service on June 30, 2021.
In Slumdog Millionaire, the last question for Rs 20 million is to name the third musketeer in Alexandre Dumas’ 1844 adventure novel ‘The Three Musketeers’. Both the director, Danny Boyle, and screenwriter Simon Beaufoy were influenced by and studied Salim-Javed's filmography with Danny calling ‘Deewar’ (1975) “absolutely key to Indian cinema”. If you look carefully, you will notice the subtle tribute and homage to the iconic duo as the protagonist’s elder brother is named Salim Malik, while the chief antagonist played by Mahesh Manjrekar is called Javed Khan.
Three: Identify the individual receiving an Academy Award in the following video. Hint: He is one of the most familiar figures in Hollywood in a completely different avatar. Also: Which unique record was also set during this moment? Note: Both parts of the question carry five points.
Answer: Charlie Chaplin and longest standing ovation at the Oscars.
Sir Charlie Chaplin received a 12-minute standing ovation at the 44th Oscars in 1972 while receiving a Lifetime Achievement award for his contributions to film. Following Senator Joseph McCarthy's accusation of being a communist in 1952, Chaplin, who had been touring Europe, faced a ban on returning to the United States. He chose to make Switzerland his home. Despite his initial hesitation, he returned to the USA after his two-decade exile to accept the honorary Oscar.
And the winners are…
Here are the top five scorers for the second week of March. Congratulations!
