A list of puzzling questions: Fashion edition
Rule change alert: We’re putting this up top so everyone sees it. We’re going to tweak the way we pick our winners. The current system favours those who send in their answers first. That’s excellent, but not everyone has the time to read splainer first thing in the morning. So we will, instead, hold a lucky draw among those with the most correct answers to pick our monthly winners—involving this gentleman, if he cooperates:)
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. 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:)
The answers to the previous week’s quiz are at the bottom—and the weekly leaderboard.
One: The image below is from a high-profile annual event that is attended by the who’s who from the world of entertainment. Spot the Indian connection in the image below.
Two: Think laterally and connect the following elements to a fashion choice.
(a) A field of maize
(b) The home of the creatures pictured below
(c) A tennis shot where the ball is lifted over the opponent
Three: These three influencers on the magazine cover are connected by a fashion element with a 250-year-old legacy—which recently made headlines in India. Nope, it’s not denim.
About last week’s quiz…
Here are the answers to the third edition of the splainer quiz:
One: This is an almost perfect life-size recreation of a fictional house—featuring the same garage, rock garden, and concrete walkway, intended as a giveaway. Which family occupied the original residence?
Answer: The Simpsons.
In 1997, a 3-D reproduction of the house from ‘The Simpsons’ was constructed at 712 Red Bark Lane in Henderson, Nevada, as part of a grand prize contest. It was designed as an almost identical replica of 742 Evergreen Terrace, the Springfield home of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie Simpson. The winner, however, opted for a cash prize instead of the property. The attention to detail was meticulous, from the food bowl for their cat, Snowball II, to the Duff beer cans in the fridge. Holding the record for the longest-running scripted primetime television series, its 35th season kicked off on Fox on October 1, 2023.
Two: Think laterally and figure out the fourth brother of this adventurous quartet.
a) His father’s Italian ancestry explains the name’s origin
b) One of the most prominent Italian filmmakers from the post-neorealist era
c) The clay-court king
Answer: Donatello from ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’.
The three elements are Leonardo DiCaprio, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Rafael Nadal. Originally conceived as a black-and-white indie comic, the creators, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, wanted the heroes to have cool ninja names. When they could not come up with anything that sounded Japanese, they struck out and ended up turning to their favourite artists for inspiration.
Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo—are all iconic Renaissance figures. Eastman, however, had his heart set on Bernini, his favourite sculptor, but Laird convinced him that Donatello just sounded better for a turtle wielding a bo staff. And so, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were born!
Three: This cover of a lifestyle magazine features some of the biggest new-age Hindi film lyricists. What seven-letter caption—a wordplay on the name of one the most iconic TV sitcoms—did it carry? Hint: Think of an antonym.
Answer: FRIVALS
This is the cover of Hindustan Times’ Brunch (12 Jan 2020 edition) featuring Kausar Munir, Anvita Dutt, Swanand Kirkire, Varun Grover, and Amitabh Bhattacharya. The stylized caption F.R.I.V.A.L.S is a wordplay on the popular sitcom Friends, which was released back in 1994 and ran for ten seasons. The magazine story details these five tight-knit lyricists who prefer to call themselves contemporaries rather than competitors, and their equations with each other.
And the winners are…
Here are the top five scorers for the first week of May. Congratulations!
