A list of puzzling questions: V-Day 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 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: The graphic designer in the photograph below created the now iconic brand imagery for a city. It was part of an advertising campaign launched in the mid-1970s to combat the negative perception of the city—which was associated with crime and bankruptcy. Today, there is some version of the same in almost every megacity and town across the world.
Two: Which expression of affection connects an Austrian painter whose most popular work depicts two lovers in embrace and is housed in a Vienna museum; a confectionary giant; and the rock band shown below in their digital avatars?
Three: Carefully watch the video clip below—taken from a 2016 Hindi film. Identify the monument of love in the backdrop—built in memory of a spouse—in the 17th century. No, it isn’t that one.
About last week’s quiz…
Here are the answers to the third edition of the splainer quiz:
One: How would you connect Gabriela (on the left) from Canada with Matthew (on the right) from Australia—apart from the fact that the two athletes play the same sport. Hint: The connection recently made India proud.
Answer: Rohan Bopanna’s Grand Slam Winning Partners
Rohan won his first grand slam title with Gabriela Dabrowski at the French Open mixed doubles event. Last month, Rohan partnered with Matthew Ebden to win Australian Open doubles title. In the process, the 43-year-old Rohan became the oldest major men's doubles winner, and the oldest tennis world number one.
Two: The farewell tour for the band of this singer-songwriter (photographed below) birthed a phenomenal event. Name this “extraordinarily impressive” annual gathering—which started in the early 1990s and made its debut in Asia last year?
Answer: Lollapalooza
In 1991, Perry Farrell, the frontman of Jane's Addiction, initiated Lollapalooza as a multi-city platform for his band's farewell tour. Farrell attributed the festival's name, derived from an archaic term signifying "extraordinarily impressive," to its usage in a Three Stooges film. Known to us in the context of the music festival, the word lollapalooza has been around since at least the 1890s. Lollapalooza India which took place on January 28-29, 2023 at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse in Mumbai was the first edition in Asia. It returned for the second edition with a line-up featuring 40+ iconic artists.
Three: Think laterally and identify the neo-noir cinematic connection among the three images below: an Asian head of government; one of Hollywood’s most recognizable faces; and a late veteran journalist known for bringing flavours of India to TV.
Answer: Sriram Raghavan’s Films or Sriram Raghavan
The names of these people form part titles of three films from Sriram Raghavan’s neo-noir universe: ‘Ek Hasina Thi’ (2004), ‘Johnny Gaddaar’ (2007), and ‘Agent Vinod’ (2012). Here is a ranking of all his films till his latest release ‘Merry Christmas’ (2024).
The head of government in top image is Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh who won a fourth straight term in the recent elections. The middle image is of actor and musician Johnny Depp, probably best known for his portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. The third image is of Hindi broadcast journalism pioneer Vinod Dua who passed away in 2021. ‘Zaika India Ka’ was an iconic food show hosted by him.
And the winners are…
Here are the top five scorers for the fourth week of January. Congratulations!
