Mostly Harmless

A quiz about life, the universe and everything. (But mostly just cricket)

Part 1

Long Visual Connect

1. +8/-41. +8/-4

2. +8/-42. +8/-4

3. +6/-33. +6/-3

4. +6/-34. +6/-3

5. +4/-25. +4/-2

6. +4/-26. +4/-2

7. +27. +2

8. +28. +2

1. Rank I?

Indeed! As all of us who live(d) on top of the hill that is home for 2 years know, food is one of the biggest fights. Attitudes range from resignation to outrage, and MessComm invariably finds itself at the receiving end of brickbats, and hardly (if ever!), bouquets.

...And thus, out of necessity, I took to asking the chettas & chottus at the NC for a mix of ______, chicken and a few other choice ingredients. Now, this was sating my hunger, satisfying my craving for meat (and egg) and leaving nothing for the circling vultures.”

Someone talking about a dish he created. What?

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2.

•The Latin neuter noun is from "triple” "way", meaning "a place where three ways meet". Facts were written on boards at a junction of three roads and hence the present meaning of this word.•Also depicted in the Atharva logo. What word?

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3. Fourplay

"In the scorebook of the epic eight-day fifth Test of 1928-29 against England in Melbourne won by Australia by five wickets, there is a "problem" boundary in the final stages, when ______ was batting with Jack Ryder. The relevant sections of Bill Ferguson's original score are illustrated: there are four runs attributed to Ryder that are in the wrong place in both the batting section of the score and in the bowling section (Maurice Tate's 35th over). There is no doubt that a recording error of some kind has occurred. So where do these runs belong?"According to this theory, this boundary belongs to the batsman batting alongside Ryder which would have created a nice statistic. What?

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4.

Before the advent of LCD, most computer monitors were based on cathode ray tubes (CRTs). When the same image is displayed on a CRT for long periods of time, the properties of the exposed areas of phosphor coating on the inside of the monitor gradually and permanently change, eventually leading to a darkened shadow or "ghost" image. To prevent this from happening the eponymously named ____ _____ was invented. Although, quite unnecessary in this day and age, HRs still exploit this facility on modern day computers. What?

14

5. Figure it out

•Independent of fat percentage, weight or width, female body shapes are categorised in into one of four elementary geometric shapes - they are Banana, Apple, Pear and _____________

15

6.

Had “Sports Illustrated” existed in 1900, its swimsuit issue would not have been especially titillating. Back then, the standard lady’s swimsuit wasn’t much different than her everyday clothes. By World War II, with fabric in short supply, slightly more revealing two-piece numbers were considered okay. But post-war? A couple of Frenchmen sensed the world was ready to loosen up. The first of them — one Jacques Heim — designed a two-piece so tiny he called it XBut Heim was one-upped by his countryman, Louis Reard. On July 5th, 1946, he unveiled an even tinier suit: “The Y” Named after a Pacific island atoll where, four days earlier, a nuclear bomb had been tested. Reard claimed he had “split the X.”X,Y?

16

7.

Writer Gordon Bowke, who co-founded the company in 1971, originally wanted to name the company Peqoud, after the doomed whaleship in Moby-Dick. He suggested the name to his then-creative partner, Terry Heckler, who responded: 'No one's going to drink Pee-quod!' Finally, they decided Captain Ahab's first mate ________ would be the name of the then-unknown brand.It was not the only inspiration the entrepreneurs found in the unusual name. It also inspired the company’s famed logo, which features a Siren from Greek Mythology. As the story goes, Sirens lured sailors to shipwreck off the coast of an island in the South Pacific, also called _____ Island.

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8. Lal salaam sakhave!

Originally, the creators of this 1988 movie had envisaged it with the lead role being a character named Ali Imran (played later on by Mohan Lal in the film Moonnam Mura (Third Degree)). However, the actor who played this role suggested a different avatar for the character - giving him a cultural identity that strongly resonated with trait of intelligence (and possibly the potential for non-veg jokes). Although the creators were initially sceptical of such a move, the actor’s suggestion turned out to be a masterstroke. Identify the character, actor and the movie.

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9.

General Sir Charles James Napier, was a general of the British Empire and the British Army's Commander-in-Chief in India. Lord Ellenborough's policy led Napier to _____ Province, for the purpose of quelling the insurrection of the Muslim rulers who had remained hostile to the British Empire following the First Anglo-Afghan War. His orders had been only to put down the rebels, but he conquered the whole Province, thus greatly exceeding his mandate. Napier despatched to his superiors the short, notable message, "Peccavi", the Latin for "_ ____ ______" which was in many ways the perfect pun.

What was the message?

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10. What’s unique about these

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11. Proceed sideways

“In 1971, I suggested to Shell Oil that they should consider drilling oil wells which proceeded sideways when the right depth was reached. Today most oil-wells are drilled exactly like that. Such wells yield between three and six times as much oil. There had been nothing wrong with traditional oil wells. But it was a matter of challenging something that was not a problem. I am not claiming that the change in drilling wells was a direct result of my suggestion - I have no way of proving that. It is a historical fact, however, that I made the suggestion in 1971.”Says who?

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12. Steffi is an angel… Hugh is the devil

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13. Question not found13. Question not found

404 error messages for which website?

14. Daring young men on the flying trapeze

•Things named because of X– The programming language by Guido van Rossum. X

references are often found in sample code created for that language.

– In 1985, a fossil of a previously unknown species of gigantic prehistoric snake from the Miocene discovered in Australia was named “X”oides riversleighensis.

– The term "spam" in reference to unsolicited email.– An English bowler (Nah, just kidding)

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15.

______ is the registered trademark for a small round sweet consisting of a soft chocolate centre with a hard covering of orange flavoured, red coloured confectionery. The name derives from an orange of the same name. The sweet is part of Australian and New Zealand cultural folklore. Its use in cricket comes perhaps from the Australian continent, where commentators use ______ metaphorically to describe something that’s a real treat, a precious occurrence.

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16. Dare to think beyond 16. Dare to think beyond

• The goal of the puzzle is to link all 9 dots using four straight lines or less, without lifting the pen and without tracing the same line more than once.

• What phrase originates out of the solution to this puzzle

17. Connect the dots17. Connect the dots