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: Which literary figure connects the two images below? Hint: It involves a weapon.
(a) A happy species of big cat, predominant in South America
(b) Two greats of literature—one born in Poland, the other in Russia
Two: Ahead of the UEFA Euro 2024, below is the jersey for a new kit for one of the teams—recently unveiled by Adidas. Which literary character—loved by children and adults alike—does it pay tribute to?
Three: The following paintings reimagine a late 15th century painting of a famous event in the Bible. The question is in two parts, each worth five points:
- Name the 15th century painting.
- Name the ‘Progressive’ artist who created the paintings below.
Here are the answers to the third edition of the splainer quiz:
One: Shown below are two older symbols of a political organisation. Identify the current symbol used by this particular organisation.
Answer: Hand (Symbol of Indian National Congress)
On August 17, 1951, the Congress was assigned the symbol of 'Two Bulls' (later ‘Bullocks’) with a Yoke. The symbol of the 'Human Hand', which is the emblem of the Congress today, was allocated to the All India Forward Bloc (Ruiker Group). Upon being expelled from the party by then Congress party president S Nijalingappa, Indira Gandhi launched her faction - INC (R). This faction was symbolised by a new election symbol: a cow with a suckling calf. From the 1984 Lok Sabha election onward, Congress (I) became Congress, with the ‘Hand’ election symbol.
Two: Connect the two series of images to figure out an election-related invention.
(a) Two central public sector undertakings (PSUs) under the Defence ministry and the Department of Atomic Energy, respectively.
(b) Two design professors from IIT Bombay
Answer: Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs)
The Election Commission assigned the development of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) to Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), and the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL)—both public sector undertakings. The EVM's industrial design was conceived by two professors from the Industrial Design Centre School of Design, IIT Bombay—AG Rao and Ravi Poovaiah. Optimising the cost-effectiveness of materials and technology was a primary objective. In March 1989, both BEL and ECIL accepted the final design of the EVM.
Three: The image below is the poster of one of Satyajit Ray’s last directorial ventures. Keeping this edition’s theme in mind, which poster of a movie released in the last decade has an unintentional resemblance to this one?
Answer: ‘Newton’ (2017)
‘Ganashatru’ (1989) is Satyajit Ray’s adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s play ‘An Enemy of the People’. Although the two films are thematically divergent, the posters have a striking similarity. The initial poster portrayed Newton in an inverted position, with voting fingers emerging through the foliage, pointing upwards. After the initial enthusiasm, it was rejected. Designer Juan Luis Garcia then presented more options. In the final version, ‘Newton’ is positioned in the centre, surrounded by voting fingers pointing toward him from various directions—as you can see below.
And the winners are…
Here are the top five scorers for the third week of April. Congratulations!
