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Questions and Answers |
12 . 13 . 14 . 15 . 16 . 17 . 18 . 19 . 20 . 21 . 22 23 . 24 . 25 . 26 . 27 . 28 . 29 . 30 . 31 . 32 . 33 34 . 35 . 36 . 37 . 38 . 39 . 40 . 41 . 42 . 43 . 44 45 . 46 . 47 . 48 . 49 . 50 . 51 . 52 . 53 . 54 . 55 Q01. 2010 Redux
 If Miss Goff is to go across, who is Mr. Messervy? A. Me, or any synonym for it, including the answerer's name. Q02. Two Kinds Of Thieves
An American city and a university in that city are named after the same person, but their names don't resemble each other. Name the city and the university. A. Chatham University, Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania). Q03. Hey, A Useful URL Turned Up!
Clerk rotated baking material (5) A. Pyrex. Q04. The Disappearance
Once, an Academy Award-winning director, who had at one point been married to a Tony Award-winning actress, announced that he had had enough and was setting out on a trip to Jakarta, Indonesia, to study under a Zen master. This, of course, attracted the attention of the media. (Those who are acquainted with the ways of movie directors might say that such attention was the point, but we won't go there.) Reporters, excited by the story, gathered to interview him, but were turned away and informed that he had changed his mind and was continuing his work in movies. This entire story occurred on one day; when? A. Noel. (December 25, Christmas Day etc. would also have been accepted.) Q05. A Question That Came From Nantucket
Write a limerick in which the second and fifth lines end in the only two words in abridged dictionaries that rhyme with the last word of the first line. Five bonus Herdwicks if the fourth line ends with the only word that rhymes with the last word of the third line. Rhymes should be exact, meter should be smooth in the Panel's judgement, and the limerick should make at least Learian sense. No sheep will be lost if the third and fourth lines aren't indented. A. The winning entry: Q06. Who Knows?
What are now two separate countries once constituted a unit (A) under a single ruler. Working for that ruler was an observer of the aristocracy (with a distinctive nose), until he was invited by another ruler to work in a city that later became the capital of a unit (B) that is now two separate countries. If you work out the name of former unit B you should easily find the name of the capital city that is centrally located in it. (You are now back in former unit A.) That city is dominated by something that should hopefully remind you of a comedy actor's distinctive nose. A. Holmenkollen, Hans Christian Andersen, Baccalieu Tickle, Frank Sinatra. Q07. A Major
Between a run about not walking and a stumbling waltz that ended with a kiss, a revolution started. Who was kissed? A. Clementine's little sister. Q08. 25
If a crescent is red and a ring is green, what is the combination of a lily with a rose? A. Brown orange or brown orange black. Q09. 10
The first sentence of a certain short book has thirty-seven words; the second has sixty-three; the third has seventy-five; the last has seventy. The others are shorter. The illustrator is well known for illustrating books by an author whose first name is spelled the same as a common English word, a cognate to a Latin word whose feminine accusative plural was borrowed into English as what word? A. Alias. Q10. Swear To God
Bear A. Award-winning SF writers: Elizabeth Bear, Elizabeth Hand and Elizabeth Moon. Q11. Heath Village
She shortened one of her most famous poems by a factor of ten. One of his most famous quotations (related to his most famous and controversial feat) is a mere two words. Where did she give him things that he was needin'? A. At the Carlisle Indian (Industrial) School in Carlisle, Pa., where Marianne Moore was one of Jim Thorpe's teachers. Q12. First Name Fred
In the poem where 'wood' means 'mad', what word means 'wood'? A. Frith. Q13. Border Conflicts
What is this a complete list of? (Map provided as hint.) A. Areas that drive on the right but share a land border with areas that drive on the left. Q14. The Way Of The Sheep
Which ten-letter word links these three things? A. Portishead. Q15. Three Of A Kind
What word links these three things? A. Jura. Q16. Cool And Confident
The last two lines of a certain song, in Babelfish translation, run as follows: A. The title of the song (by Girolamo Frescobaldi) is 'Se l'aura spira'. Q17. Not Possessive
Around 1492, the year when Cuba was discovered, he came to Florence. He accompanied Michelangelo to hear fiery sermons. Some decades later, it was he who informed the Russians about the discovery of Cuba. By then he had spent many years in prison for crimes including mistranslation. Who was he? Any reasonable version of his name will be accepted. A. Maxim Grek, Maximus the Greek, Maximos the Hagiorite, Michael Trivolis, etc. Q18. Is This Question Done?
What links all these pictures? A. Four-letter past tenses or past participles. Q19. Follow The Directions
A cryptic crossword clue has two parts, one using wordplay and one straight. Here are four clues that are only the wordplay part, no straight part. As in some cryptic crosswords, the number of words and letters per word in the answer to each clue is listed after the clue: (1,7) means there are two words, of which the first has one letter and the second seven. The answers to these clues, which you must find, are themselves clues (not cryptic, just standard American crossword clues, though the fourth is punny), to, in some order, 'up', 'down', 'right', and 'left'. A sheep per clue solved. A. Prerogative, awake, absconded, something in the mouth. Q20. Question Without Names
A's mistress is B. B's mistress is C. B expects C to become A's mistress and commits suicide. If C is an eponym and a toponym closely associated with a Floridian known to us all, what lexical category is B? Please explain. A. Noun. Q21. Classical
What famous singer seems to have had a blue throat? A. Jenny Lind. Q22. Veni Vehicle Vidi
In which language are airports and hotels independently linked? A. Dhivehi or Divehi or Maldivian. Q23. Fly Away Pita
Unpeel an equine troll to get an ovine prophylactic.
A. Mulesing. Q24. See Now?
Word-for-word translation for the dirty-minded. A. Brainwash or brainwashing. Q25. You Ewe!
The following picture is a registered trademark of Stego Industries, but there's more to it than that. On due cue, please answer the question. A. 3. Q26. Way Out
From your initial destination, head out northwest and go about 600 miles, then northeast and about 1200 miles, then southwest and about 900 miles, then west and about 200 miles, then south and about 500 miles. What supplies the rhythm? A. A steel drum band. Q27. Prize
A name of one of the constellations of the zodiac is the surname of the author of a short story that shares a title with a song that was the only winner ever of what prize? A. The Grammy Award for Best Disco Recording. Q28. The Missing Lock
Dealer, herbal, opiate, spuria, unshod. A. Nipepe or Nipčpe or Nepepe... Q29. Find The Key To These Locks
A. Distress. Q30. Three, Not Five
John Curtis O'Shea - what's missing for success? A. Jackson. Q31. Birthday Presents
The first one is not quite the correct color, but the second one is, and both are more important than food or fuel. What is the imminent third? A. Kimjongunia or Kimjongeunia. Q32. The Question Of Questions
Add an entry to this list, and give a reason for each entry's presence on the list: managar, tulkojums, cumnat, yeldan. A. Mark Brader provided 'prime' (a rhyme of 'rhyme'). Q33. When Sinbad Met Mavis
22 words. A. 7 or 8. Q34. When Ulysses Left Langley
What is this SDC-related location? (Further pictures
provided as hints: here and here.) A. The United States Sheep Experiment Station (USSES). Q35. Call Me
The second half of the German homograph of an English word is a homograph of an English translation of the German word. Who's missing? A. Al. Q36. Far Out!
A mostly Swedish word has a mostly Chinese referent. Name the village. A. Ytterby. Q37. Christmas Competition
Supply an ordered list of some odd number of unique English words. Each odd-numberth word (the first, third, fifth, and so on) must follow the following rules: A. The winning entry: Alan Curry's computer-generated 999-word chain. Q38. Catfish Blues
Reconstruct this haiku: farcical, Poseidon, uranium, wet... A. Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Q39. An Additional Question
Pair the synonyms: A. asp+ire = aim; spa+red = free; cove+ring = atop; con+done= okay; fat+her = pop; mist+ruth = lie. Q40. I Love It
Bart Collins's teacher has a namesake without a degree who popularized what ironic claim of compassion? A. I pity the fool ... Q41. Sequence
Pent, piece, puissance. What's not missing? A. A pipe, une pipe. Q42. Flat Balls
Which eunuch's son was too late to steer his parents clear of star-crossed love? A. Astralabe or Astrolabe; or Abelard. Q43. I Love You
Why do eggrolls remind a Panelist of edible bosons? A. Because of the song 'Have an Eggroll, Mr. Goldstone' from Gypsy, and Goldstone bosons. Q44. Vowel Shifting Multiculturalism
The speckled band was a tax. Riddle it and the gangs appear. If it annexes the province you'll win a fine-toothed saw. When existence compounds it you'll get a clue. Exalted, that band will even swindle Jamaicans! A. Bandolo. Q45. A Is To B
Fit these eight words into a proportion. That is, order them so that A is to B as C is to D as E is to F as G is to H. A. sides : additionally :: spoke : custom :: wilder : puzzle :: stir : rouse. That is, 'besides' is to 'additionally' as 'bespoke' is to 'custom' as 'bewilder' is to 'puzzle' as 'bestir' is to 'rouse'. (Other equivalent proportions would have been accepted...) Q46. Roots
'But however entrancing it is to wander unchecked through a garden of bright images, are we not enticing your mind from another subject of almost equal importance?' A. Odd. Q47. Change A Conjunction To A Preposition
What island suggests a civil-rights controversy in a place named after another island? A. Lewis and Harris. (Other names for the island - e.g. 'Harris with Lewis' or 'the Long Island' - would also have been accepted.) Q48. Word Play
There's a seven-letter, sheep-related English word such that if you exchange its first vowel with its last, then change the first letter to its own successor in the alphabet, then push its third consonant down the alphabet ten spaces, and then change one of its vowels to match its first vowel you get a word that serves as a big hint to another question in this year's SDC. A. Lanolin. Q49. 2 EZ 4 U
Create a text message using SMS abbreviations that can also be read without SMS abbreviations as an ordinary passage with a meaning different from the text message's. Differences in punctuation, capitalization, and spacing can be ignored. Sheep to the best answer (in the Panel's opinion) within 120 hours. Considerations include length, the amount of the text that needs to be interpreted differently in the two readings, ingenuity, humor, on-topicness, and whatever else strikes the Panel's fancy. A. The winning entry: Evan Kirshenbaum's Q50. Froglorn Leghorn
It was a dark and stormy night and low clouds, roiling overhead like a drab rug gyrated by a hidden horde of frenzied Diabolonians, hurled down rain by the gallon to obliterate Professor Doktor Xenophrasticus van Leghorn's little party as it emerged at last from the forest of giant asparagus ("Ah! Cleidaceae!" the big Boer gasped, flushing with childlike pleasure, when he first saw the plant: "The asparagine bracteate equivalence is wholly specious!") and squinted, blinking, from the rim of the crater at a spectacle vested with such horror that none could later say how they had remained steadfast, ambulant and continent, though love of the Vulcan Diamond (or Patina) Frog and fear of the tall, indomitable colonial scholar's scorn certainly played their parts: at the centre of a heathen necropolis a bonfire defied the downpour and illuminated a wheeled pagan temple - a barbarian version of those little shacks from which the fairer sex bathes at Brighton - before which thousands of orange frogs with amber limbs and a curious greenish lozenge on their backs were being subjected to acts of an unspeakably evil nature by ninety-nine ape-like creatures wearing chainmail and macabre masks with big rubber noses while the hundredth, the simians' evil leader, prepared himself for the sombre slaughter of the gaudy, chirruping innocents by tightening his belt-buckle, effortlessly moving the heavy oaken temple back ten yards and, after wiping his hands with a damp rag, lighting the fuse of a grenade. A. James Hogg spotted 30 (including 1 not spotted by the Panel); musika spotted 6; Athel Cornish-Bowden spotted 2 (including 1 not spotted by the Panel); and CDB spotted 2. Q51. Somehow Incites My Ass
A wrinkly hermit, inspired by desert fathers, could lie all night beside a beautiful naked girl to prove his ability to resist temptation. The Greeks had a word for this ancient practice. Although it is used in modern English works of scholarship, the word has not yet penetrated the OED. What is it? A. Syneisactism Q52. A Piece Of Peace
According to an unreliable source, first this word meant a control for a transportation device, then an analogous control for an updated device, then a brand of that device whose device looks similar to that control, then any such device that's similar in an important way to the ones with that device. What is the word? A. Whip. Q53. In Good Condition
What word, which should mean 'capable of bending forward', now usually means 'weighed down in front'? A. Buxom. Q54. Trilogy
What is the link between these three things? A. Browning. Q55. Vibrational Research
According to Eurofound, a European Union research agency based in A. Gorilla (album) or 'The Intro and the Outro' (song) by The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.
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