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—as are our March winners!
One: This currency note—which is no longer in circulation—from a European country depicts a creator and his designs. Identify the Indian connection with the designer. Also: Name the country that issued these notes. Both parts carry 5 points.
Two: Think laterally and connect the following elements. Hint: Be as specific as possible.
a) A country in Eastern Europe
b) Never address this iconic character from a sitcom with this name.
c) An English monarch who occupied the throne not via marriage
Three: The Norwegian hip-hop dance group Quick Style toured and performed in India last year. Besides live shows, they also did a lot of promotional shoots. One such video was shot inside a palace. In which city in central India is this palace located?
About last week’s quiz…
Here are the answers to the third edition of the splainer quiz:
One: Think laterally and connect the following elements (the list is not exhaustive):
- A celestial body of enormous size and luminosity
- A film that brought international acclaim to the leading actor
- By what name does an entire city know this yesteryear actor?
Answer: Names of defunct IPL teams
The 3 elements in question are: Supergiant, The Warrior, and Lion. They form the name of three former teams in IPL—Rising Pune Supergiant, Pune Warriors and Gujarat Lions. A star is classified as supergiant if its diameter is several hundred times that of the Sun and its luminosity is nearly 1,000,000 times as great. The 2001 British film ‘The Warrior’ directed by Asif Kapadia put the late great Irrfan Khan on the world map. Hamid Ali Khan—more popular as Ajit—did around 200 films and is most fondly remembered for his catchphrase from the film ‘Kalicharan’. In addition to these three, there are two more defunct teams in IPL history—Deccan Chargers and Kochi Tuskers Kerala.
Two: Which unfortunate incident connects the two individuals below?
- A presenter-commentator who has been associated with the IPL in different roles
- An all-rounder from a neighbouring nation
Answer: The mid-auction collapse of auctioneer Hugh Edmeades in 2022
In December 2018, Hugh Edmeades was chosen by the BCCI to serve as the auctioneer for the 2019 Indian Premier League (IPL) taking over Richard Madley. During the 2022 auctions, he collapsed midway through the event. As a precautionary measure, it was decided to allow the English auctioneer to rest, and Charu Sharma was roped in to continue the auctions. This unfortunate incident occurred during the intense bidding for Sri Lankan all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga. Hugh returned next year to conduct the 2023 auctions. Over his impressive 35-year career at Christie's, he has conducted over 2,500 auctions, selling more than 310,000 lots and totaling over £2.7 billion in sales.
Three: What event or development triggered a flood of creative memes (like the ones seen below) on social media. Identify it.
Answer: Impact Player Rule or Impact Player Signal
Introduced during IPL 2023, the Impact Player rule gives the teams the flexibility to swap one player in their Playing XI during specific time frames within the game. The teams must select five substitute players, from whom they can choose an Impact Player when needed. When signalling the introduction of an Impact Player, the umpire will cross their hands over their head and close their fists. This sparked a surge of memes and chants of “Wakanda Forever”.
And the super quizzer for March is…
Here is the leaderboard at the end of March. 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!
