A list of puzzling questions: Pop culture 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—as are our April winners.
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?
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
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.
About last week’s quiz…
Here are the answers to the third edition of the splainer quiz:
One: This Hungary-born professor of Physics was dissatisfied with the inherent randomness of a certain system in chess. What standard—based on mathematics—did he devise that is now an integral part of the game’s vocabulary?
Answer: Elo rating
The physicist and Hungarian-American chess player Arpad Elo created the Elo rating system. FIDE, the governing body of chess adopted it in 1970. The system operates on the principle of scoring based on the quality gap between two players. Because of its mathematical structure, the point system tends to favour lower-rated players when they compete against higher-rated ones, as the latter are expected to win. Originally intended for chess, it can be applied to competitions involving individual players or team-based games, including arm wrestling, scrabble, and many e-sports. Interestingly, even the dating app Tinder used to employ the Elo system.
Two: Shown here is a classic chess opening by white, taking its name from the pawn sacrifice (c4) to gain control. What is this strategy called? Hint: The term became a part of pop culture a few years ago.
Answer: Queen's Gambit
The Queen's Gambit is one of the oldest recorded chess openings, first referenced in the Göttingen manuscript from 1490. The white aims to dominate the centre by sacrificing a wing pawn, creating constant pressure. As black attempts to reclaim control of the centre, their pieces can feel constrained in their movement. The 2020 Netflix miniseries ‘The Queen's Gambit’ is an adaptation of Walter Tevis’s eponymous 1983 novel.
Three: Look at the brief clip below from a welcome vid for a chess event. Name the event—and identify the welcoming voice. (5+5)
Answer: Chess Olympiad 2022 and AR Rahman
The clip is from the anthem titled 'Welcome to Namma Ooru (Our City) Chennai’ for the 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad, which took place in Chennai from July 28 to August 10, 2022. The song was composed and sung by AR Rahman, and the vid shows him walking on the Napier Bridge, over the Cooum River, decorated to resemble a chessboard. You can listen to the entire anthem here.
And the super quizzer for April is…
Here is the leaderboard at the end of April. Congratulations to the Top 5 for acing the splainer quiz! We will be emailing you soon with details of your prize—a quarterly splainer sub!
