The Quiz

Monday July 22 2024

A list of puzzling questions: Summer Olympics edition

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 Monday. 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 499 in value—so it’s pretty darn good:)

Rule to note: We will pick winners each month using a lucky draw.

The answers: to the previous week’s quiz are at the bottom—as are the weekly winners.

One: In this image, the judge is seen signalling a violation. Identify this athletic event—which demands precise steps. Its revised format debuts at the Paris 2024 edition.

Two: What connects the athletes below (non-exhaustive list):

a) No, that’s not Farhan Akhtar

b) Best friends with Yelena Produnova

c) Making her third consecutive appearance at the Olympics in Paris

Three: The clip of an Olympic opening ceremony features a version of an evergreen classic from the ‘60s. Specify the Olympic edition (year/place) and identify the supermodel strutting down the ramp—reimagined as the subject of the song. (5+5)

About last week’s quiz…

Here are the answers to the previous edition of the splainer quiz:

One: This is the coat of arms of a town in a European country. It also shares the last name of a next-generation sports star—who dominates every surface. Hint: Roses are red… wait, so are cherries!

Answer: Alcaraz

Located in the Albacete region of Spain, the present-day town of Alcaraz was established between the 10th and 11th centuries during the Caliphate era. It is also the origin of Carlos Alcaraz’s name, derived from the Arabic words ‘al karas,’ meaning ‘the cherry.’ Carlos retained his Wimbledon title this year, defeating Novak Djokovic in straight sets. With this win, he became the youngest man to win both Wimbledon and the French Open in the same year.

Two: Work out the name of an online talk show hosted by this ‘shark’. It’s a culinary wordplay on a popular drama series featuring the cooking talents of Mr. Pink and Mr. White.

Answer: Breaking Bread

Zomato's YouTube series Breaking Bread, hosted by Founder & CEO Deepinder Goyal featured restaurateurs discussing their business challenges, entrepreneurial journeys, and culinary innovations. Walter White and Jesse Pinkman are the two central characters of the show ‘Breaking Bad’, which inspired the wordplay title of Goyal’s series. Check out the Breaking Bread playlist for some business gyaan.

Three: If the God of Cricket sits at the top, and two former Aussie skippers share third place, who is the age-defying master of swing and seam in the second spot on this illustrious list?

Answer: James Anderson

James Anderson, England's top bowler and leading Test wicket-taker among seamers, has retired after more than 40,000 balls in 188 matches. He ended his career with a victory over West Indies at Lord's—21 years after debuting against Zimbabwe at the same venue. He is second on the list of most matches in a career in Test cricket, with only Sachin (200 Tests) having played more. His 704 scalps make him the third highest wicket-taker in Test history. You can read Samanth Subramanian's brilliant profile of James Anderson here.