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 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 winners for the third week of November.
One: The traditional Indian motif below served as the inspiration for the visual identity of a recent global event. Name the event and the motif? Hint: Focus on the colour scheme to answer the first part of the question. (5+5)
Two: Are you intelligent enough to work out the ‘artificial’ connection among these elements? Hint: think poetry.
a) Syllable(s) is the key
b) The Bard’s go-to verse style
c) Singular noun of this art form; also meaning ‘work’
Three: Look at the winners flexing their championship belts after decimating the opponents with well-aimed swings. What is their ‘safe’ combat weapon?
About last week’s quiz…
Here are the answers to the previous edition of the splainer quiz:
One: The ‘graphic’ details of this speaker’s celebrated work are more timely than ever. Here he is speaking at a recent event in New Delhi.
Answer: Joe Sacco
Joe Sacco—the Maltese-American pioneer of “comics journalism”—is renowned for his graphic novels like ‘Palestine’, ‘Footnotes in Gaza’, and ‘Safe Area Gorazde’, which blend reportage with visual storytelling to document conflict zones. The clip in question is from an audience interaction during his November visit to New Delhi after his talk with The Wire’s editor Seema Chishti. Although he is not new to the country, in 2010, Sacco explored rural poverty in Uttar Pradesh, India, showcasing his craft in a comic published in The Caravan. You can listen to the full interaction here.
Two: Keeping with the literary theme, find the element—recently in the news—that connects these:
a) Retail giant
b) Coloured area surrounding the black spot
c) Planets in their trajectories
Answer: Booker Prize
The Booker Prize, established in 1968 with backing from Booker McConnell, a Guyanese-based food distributor, has evolved significantly over the years. In 2018, Tesco’s £4 billion ($5 billion) takeover of Booker created a major force in Britain’s food market.
Last year, the Booker Prize Foundation named its trophy Iris, honouring Iris Murdoch, who won the prize in 1978. The 2024 Booker Prize was awarded to Samantha Harvey for ‘Orbital’, a novel about astronauts on the International Space Station. The third image in the question shows the planets orbiting the sun.
Three: Fill in the blanks of this alliterative book title—published as a three volume-series in the early 1990s. We recommend you swap it for your smartphone on your next ‘break’.
Answer: Bathroom book
The Great American Bathroom Book is a three-volume series (1992-1994) offering concise summaries of nearly 120 literary classics, along with quotes, biographies, and trivia. Designed for efficiency, it allows readers to quickly grasp works during brief moments, such as a bathroom break. With over 1 million copies sold, there is also ‘The Great American Bathroom Book’, ‘Shakespeare’ summarising the Bard’s greatest plays and many of the sonnets. Once you devour these volumes, don’t forget to replenish your stack with other great loo suggestions here.
And the winners are…
Here are the top five scorers for the third week of November. Congratulations!
