Zephyr Quiz League

Round 1

Player 1 Question 1:

The First Circle of Hell in Dante’s Inferno is home to the unbaptised and the virtuous pagans. Which 12th-century Muslim ruler, known for his chivalry and opposition to certain religious campaigns of the time, is encountered here?

Answer: Saladin (Accept: Sala-Ah-Din or Al-Nasir Salah Al-Din Yusuf Ibn Ayyub)

Player 1 Question 2:

Which space observatory operated by ESA from 2009 to 2013 studied the cosmic microwave background (CMB) by mapping its anisotropies? It is named after a German physicist who derived the formula for black-body radiation, which forms the basis for CMB research.

Answer: Max Planck

Player 2 Question 1:

What type of cake popularised in Britain forms the basis of most decorated cakes and is known for its soft, airy texture and ability to soak up flavours and fillings such as jams, preserves and custard sauce? It is made with egg whites, flour and sugar.

Answer: Sponge cake

Player 2 Question 2:

I Always Loved You by Robin Oliveira is a fictional biography about an artist and her relationship with Edgar Degas after she moved to Paris following the American Civil War. Which artist depicted in this painting by Edgar Degas?

Answer: Mary Cassatt

Player 3 Question 1:

What mathematical term concerned with a type of number derives from a Latin term meaning “untouched or intact”? It was formed by adding a prefix implying “no” to the Latin word “tangere” which means “to touch”.

Answer: Integer; Integer is formed from the Latin words for in + tangere.

Player 3 Question 2:

What object inspired the bottle design of Carolina Herrera’s Good Girl? The object is named after a type of Italian dagger with a long slender blade and needle-like point.

Answer: Stiletto(s); Prompt on any reference to Heels / High Heels

Player 4 Question 1:

The Battle of Surfaces was an exhibition match played at the Palma Arena between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer on a specially prepared half-grass, half-clay court. What type of sporting arena was converted to host this match?

Answer: Velodrome (Accept: Any reference to cycling)

Player 4 Question 2:

The canals of Havers are a series of microscopic tubes that allow blood vessels and nerves to travel through the outermost region of which group of rigid structures to supply the osteocytes? These structures come in various shapes and sizes.

Answer: Bones

Round 2

Player 1 Question 1:

Doug Jones is an American actor best known for portraying non-human roles. For playing which character in a 2007 superhero sequel was he required to wear a monochrome suit, with facial expressions rendered later using CGI? The alliterative two-word name of the character can be used to refer to an elderly browser of the internet.

Answer: Silver Surfer (Accept: Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer; Don't Prompt: Fantastic Four)

Player 1 Question 2:

Which Dutch field hockey legend, nicknamed the "Executioner" because of his deadly strikes and precision set-plays, was top scorer at the 1976 Olympics with 11 goals?

Answer: Paul Litjens

Player 2 Question 1:

In 2009, the European Space Agency launched the then-largest infrared space observatory. Which German-born British astronomer is it named after? He discovered the infrared spectrum in 1800.

Answer: William Herschel

Player 2 Question 2:

Henri Dunant was inspired to form the International Committee of the Red Cross after he witnessed the suffering of wounded soldiers following which 1859 battle that was fought between the Franco-Sardinian Alliance and the Austrian Army? The decisive engagement played a crucial part in the process of Italian Unification.

Answer: Battle of Solferino

Player 3 Question 1:

Which central holy scripture of a religion from the Indian subcontinent has its key sections classified according to the ragas in which the hymns are to be sung? There are 31 single ragas and 29 mixed (or mishrit) ragas, that combine two or three ragas together.

Answer: Guru Granth Sahib (Accept: Adi Granth; Prompt: Sikhism)

Player 3 Question 2:

S2E3 of the TV series House features a patient who drops from the roof of a building. The doctors try their best, but still can’t put the patient back together to his previous self. What is the rhyming title of the episode?

Answer: Humpty Dumpty

Player 4 Question 1:

There has been a recent spike in tourist trips from Shellal to Wadi Halfa retracing the route taken by the S. S. Karnak. Some even begin the experience with a leisurely stay at the Old Cataract Hotel. Which creative work, that caused a similar tourist spike 85 years ago, is the basis for these trips?

Answer: Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie; The recent spike is because of the Kenneth Branagh film adaptation.

Player 4 Question 2:

This is the city coat of arms of Murmansk, Northwest Russia. What natural phenomenon is the group of yellow lines meant to signify?

Answer: Aurora Borealis (Accept: Northern Lights)

Round 3

Player 1 Question 1:

Which cranial nerve passes through the Fallopian canal and helps in expressing feelings of doubt, happiness and anger among others? It gets its name from the region of the human body it passes through.

Answer: Facial Nerve (Accept: Seventh Cranial Nerve)

Player 1 Question 2:

What mathematical term comes from a Latin word for “money paid as a gift or gratuity”? It is used to refer to a theorem which is established by the proof of another (generally more notable) theorem.

Answer: Corollary; from the Latin word corollarium.

Player 2 Question 1:

Which Pakistani field hockey legend, dubbed "king of the drag flick", was top scorer at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics with 10 & 11 goals respectively?

Answer: Sohail Abbas

Player 2 Question 2:

What object - integral to the spread of modern civilisation - inspired the bottle design of Galop d’Hermès? The object gets its name from a combination of the Old English words for "to ascend" and "rope”.

Answer: Stirrup; The Hermes logo features a carriage (duc) and the perfume is called Galop.

Player 3 Question 1:

For his role in a thus far unreleased remake of which film celebrating its centenary in 2022 was Doug Jones required to wear pale make up and dental prosthetics? The film features an antagonist who gets his name from the Hungarian word "ördög", meaning devil.

Answer: Nosferatu (Prompt: Count Orlok); The antagonist is Count Orlok.

Player 3 Question 2:

In Dante’s Inferno, the Ninth Circle of Hell is reserved for sinners guilty of treason. Unsurprisingly, Brutus and _______ (7) are condemned to suffer here for the assassination of Julius Caesar. Who is this traitor?

Answer: Cassius (Accept: Gaius Cassius Longinus)

Player 4 Question 1:

Which sponge cake found in traditional British and Irish cookery is named after a sweet wine that takes its name from a group of islands in Western Europe? Its name might remind one of the Sanskrit word for wine.

Answer: Madeira cake (Accept: Madira)

Player 4 Question 2:

________ (8) National Dialogue Quartet was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2015 for consolidating democratic gains and producing a historic constitution following a political crisis in 2013-14. Which geopolitical event in North Africa led to this political crisis? (Country name accepted)

Answer: Tunisian Revolution (Accept: Jasmine Revolution; Any reference to Tunisia)

Round 4

Player 1 Question 1:

This is the flag of an African city. It depicts what megaproject that has been synonymous with the city since 1970?

Answer: Aswan Dam (Accept: Aswan High Dam)

Player 1 Question 2:

The alpine resort town which hosted the Winter Olympics in 1928 and 1948, has also held golf tournaments, Cricket on Ice, and its frozen lake is the regular venue for the Snow Polo World Cup. Which Swiss town?

Answer: St. Moritz

Player 2 Question 1:

To bring to life his role in which 2010s Academy Award-winning film, did Doug Jones have to sit through a three-hour make up process that involved a skin-tight suit, glued on appendages and mechanical gills?

Answer: The Shape of Water; He played the creature in The Shape of Water.

Player 2 Question 2:

The Masjid al-Qiblatayn in Medina is known in Islamic tradition as the location where the Prophet and his followers were directed in a verse to pray towards Mecca. Before this revelation, the qibla was held to be in the direction of _________ (9), guided by the practice followed in Medina by another Abrahamic religion. Which city fills in the blank?

Answer: Jerusalem

Player 3 Question 1:

One of the tales in this biography of Juan Pareja is about his first trip to the Vatican with his master in 1650. His master, allegedly, painted Juan as practice or as proof of his skill before executing which other famous portrait that had a series of screaming interpretations 3 centuries later?

Answer: Portrait of Pope Innocent X by Diego Velasquez. The Screaming Popes by Francis Bacon were based on Velasquez's portrait.

Player 3 Question 2:

In 1989, the High Precision Parallax Collecting Satellite became the first space observatory dedicated to precision astrometry, the accurate measurement of celestial objects. What acronym, that pays tribute to an ancient Greek astronomer who founded trigonometry, is used to refer to it? (Name of the astronomer accepted)

Answer: HIPPARCOS (Accept: Hipparchus or if they are reasonably close to HIPPARCOS)

Player 4 Question 1:

Centered around the Christmas season, S4E10 of House deals with a critically ill mother who needs a bone-marrow transplant but refuses to allow her daughter to be tested for a match. House uncovers that the daughter was adopted, and that the mother has hidden this from her. Identify the title of this episode by removing one letter from the title of a 1946 film.

Answer: It's a Wonderful Lie; from It's a Wonderful Life.

Player 4 Question 2:

The present tune of India’s national song Vande Mataram is set appropriately to which Hindustani raga? The raga’s nationalistic name brings to one’s mind a sense of the land and therefore evokes a patriotic emotion.

Answer: Raga Desh

Round 5

Player 1 Question 1:

This is a still from the 2016 ballet Strapless. The ballet is based on a 2004 book of the same name about which painting that caused a huge scandal when first exhibited in the 1880s?

Answer: Madame X by John Singer Sargent; The novel is by Deborah Davis.

Player 1 Question 2:

The first conference on science and world affairs proposed by Joseph Rotblat and Bertrand Russell was scheduled to take place in India in December 1956 but it was cancelled and eventually took place at Pugwash, Nova Scotia. What geopolitical issue in the Middle East, along with the Hungarian Uprising, led to it being cancelled in India?

Answer: Suez Crisis (Accept: Second Arab–Israeli war; Tripartite Aggression; Sinai War)

Player 2 Question 1:

The canals of Hering are part of the outflow system for what dark-green to yellowish-brown fluid produced by the liver? It aids the digestion of lipids in the small intestine.

Answer: Bile or gall

Player 2 Question 2:

Which novel about the lives and struggles of the Cossacks that live near the titular river, was initially published in Oktyabr magazine between 1928–1932? The tranquil river described in the title is not to be confused with a paternal title used for someone with an undeniable proposition.

Answer: And Quiet Flows the Don by Mikhail Sholokhov;

Player 3 Question 1:

Kotel was an online service which allowed faraway devotees to send emails, fax, text messages or tweets to what famed destination? The earliest account of the location being used for this purpose is attributed to Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar in the mid-18th century.

Answer: Western Wall (Accept: Wailing Wall, Buraq Wall); This is for the practice of placing notes.

Player 3 Question 2:

Which Indian field hockey legend, known for practicing under moonlight, was top scorer at the 1928 Olympics with 14 goals?

Answer: Dhyan Chand

Player 4 Question 1:

For his role as the title character in which 2006 film was Doug Jones required to wear a suit with several mechanical moving prosthetics as well as walk on stilts to give his character a seven-foot frame? The film features a scene paying tribute to a famous 19th century Spanish painting.

Answer: Pan's Labyrinth; The painting is Goya's Saturn Devouring His Son

Player 4 Question 2:

In 1999, NASA launched an X-ray observatory designed to detect emission from high-energy regions of the Universe. Which Nobel prize-winning Indian American physicist, known for his work in stellar structure and dynamics, does the mission's name pay tribute to?

Answer: Subrahmanyan Chandrashekhar

Round 6

Player 1 Question 1:

What type of tall ancient Greek or Roman jar with two handles and a narrow neck inspired the bottle design of J'adore by Christian Dior? These jars were primarily used to store wine.

Answer: Amphora

Player 1 Question 2:

Which light sponge cake was baked to celebrate the wedding of Princess Victoria to Prince Louis in 1884? It gets its name from the German town that was the seat of the prince's family.

Answer: Battenberg cake or Battenburg square

Player 2 Question 1:

Known as the "Brickyard Crossing Golf Club", this golf course has 14 holes outside and 4 holes inside which other sporting venue?

Answer: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Accept: Indianapolis 500 or Indy 500); The pagoda of the racetrack is visible in the background.

Player 2 Question 2:

S2E4 of House features a doctor who has self-diagnosed himself with Tuberculosis. The episode centres around the dilemma of whether the diagnosis is correct. What is the title of the episode, a play on a famous soliloquy?

Answer: TB or not TB (Prompt on "To be, or not to be.")

Player 3 Question 1:

Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) was conceptualised after a number of French doctors volunteered to work in hospitals at which secessionist state that had declared its independence from Nigeria in 1967? In 1970, this Igbo-majority state rejoined Nigeria.

Answer: Republic of Biafra

Player 3 Question 2:

Which national capital's flag depicts the mythical bird Garuda? The people of this country refer to Garuda as Khangar'd as a sign of respect.

Answer: Ulaanbaatar OR Ulan Bator; The forehead of the Garuda features the soyombo, also depicted on the flag of Mongolia.

Player 4 Question 1:

In 1993, King Hussein of Jordan sold one of his houses in London to personally fund the high volume of precious metal required for the refurbishment of what structure in Jerusalem?

Answer: Dome of the Rock (Accept: Qubbat aṣ-Ṣakhra; Don't Accept/Prompt: Al-Aqsa Mosque)

Player 4 Question 2:

Which forward, with a surname similar to a Woodstock performer, was top scorer of the men's field hockey event at the 2020 Olympics? He scored 14 goals while guiding Belgium to the gold medal.

Answer: Alexander Hendrickx

Round 7

Player 1 Question 1:

What two words precede the name of the ragas Todi, Malhar, and Sarang as created and interpreted by the 16th century musician whose real name was Ramtanu?

Answer: Miyan ki (Accept: Miyan; Prompt: Tansen); As in Miyan ki Todi, Miyan ki Malhar, and Miyan ki Sarang.

Player 1 Question 2:

S4E5 of House revolves around a patient who is thought to be faking his symptoms. It is later revealed that he is incapable of asserting his own identity. Instead, he takes on the personality of the most dominant person in the room. What title, with the same word repeating and borrowed from a daily query by a character from a fairy tale, does the episode have?

Answer: Mirror Mirror (Accept: “Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?”; Prompt: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)

Player 2 Question 1:

The official flag of which city was introduced in 1973 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of Tawantinsuyo Radio? The city served as the capital of the Inca Empire from the 13th century until the 16th-century Spanish conquest.

Answer: Cusco OR Cuzco in Peru

Player 2 Question 2:

The term used for what type of angle in geometry can be traced to a Latin word meaning “beaten down to the point of being dull”? The word is also used in English to describe someone who is "annoyingly insensitive" or "slow to understand".

Answer: Obtuse OR Obtuse Angle

Player 3 Question 1:

Which biscuit-sized cake with a sponge base is named after a variety of the fruit that flavours it? The fruit in turn is named after an ancient port city of the Middle East.

Answer: Jaffa cakes (Accept: Jaffa orange)

Player 3 Question 2:

The canals of Lambert are microscopic collateral airways between terminal bronchioles and what tiny balloon-shaped structures that surround it? It means "little cavity" in Latin.

Answer: Alveoli or alveolus

Player 4 Question 1:

Which quattrocento Carmelite priest, known for his depictions of chubby infant Jesuses, is the subject of this fictionalised biography? Notorious for his lustful nature and numerous affairs, he eloped with a novitiate nun with whom he had a son, who would go on to become a famous artist as well.

Answer: Fra Filippo Lippi. The son was Fillipino Lippi

Player 4 Question 2:

Condemned to the Eighth Circle of Hell in Dante’s Inferno are people accused of fraud and deception. Who, along with Diomedes, is punished here for the stratagem of the Trojan Horse, for persuading Achilles to sail for Troy, and for the theft of the sacred statue of Pallas?

Answer: Ulysses (Accept: Odysseus)

Round 8

Player 1 Question 1:

The Cenacle on Mount Zion is an upper room of a building that also houses the tomb of King David of Israel. As its Latin root word suggests, the Cenacle is believed to be the site of what biblical event?

Answer: The Last Supper; Cenaculum is the Latin word for dining room.

Player 1 Question 2:

Which historical novel - one of the greatest works written in a particular Indian language - refers to the moniker given to an emperor who was miraculously saved when he fell into a certain river as a child? Published in serial form between 1950 and 1954, it is set to be adapted into a much anticipated movie later this year.

Answer: Ponniyin Selvan (Son of Ponni, old name for Cauvery); The emperor is Rajaraja Chola.

Player 2 Question 1:

Ragamala paintings are visual expressions of the moods of ragas. Which Hindustani morning raga, one of the six parent ragas, is usually represented aptly by the image of Lord Shiva? The solemn and calm raga finds visual expression with Parvati applying cooling sandalwood on Shiva’s body.

Answer: Raga Bhairav (Prompt: Bhairavi, which is another raga altogether)

Player 2 Question 2:

Which medieval Italian noblewoman is condemned by Dante to the Second Circle of Hell for lustful behaviour? She suffers here along with her lover Paolo, with the couple also immortalised by Auguste Rodin in his sculpture The Kiss. (First name accepted)

Answer: Francesca da Rimini (Accept: Francesca da Polenta)

Player 3 Question 1:

Polartec Big Air At ______ (6) was a big air snowboarding and skiing competition that took place on February 11-12, 2016. At what famous sporting venue was it held? (Blank is part of the answer)

Answer: Fenway Park; The Green Monster Wall is prominent in the picture.

Player 3 Question 2:

This is Andrićgrad, a town constructed by film director Emir Kusturica based on the locations described in the best known novel by 1961 Nobel Prize winner Ivo Andrić. Which novel named after a 16th century structure built on the order of the Grand Vizier Mehmed Paša Sokolović?

Answer: The Bridge on the Drina

Player 4 Question 1:

Which type of a geometric shape is derived from a Greek word meaning “stirred up or hoed up”? When a piece of the ground was stirred up, the surface would become uneven, and this was later associated with the Greek word. It is also the name of a group of three muscles in the neck that are of unequal length.

Answer: Scalene OR Scalene Triangle; The Greek word is Skalenos.

Player 4 Question 2:

What object inspired the bottle design of Viktor & Rolf’s Flowerbomb? The object got its name due to its resemblance to a many-seeded fruit that originally grew abundantly in the Mediterranean.

Answer: Grenade (Prompt: Pomegranate)

Spare

Spare Question 1:

ESA is developing a visible to near-infrared space telescope to study the shape of galaxies and the geometry of the universe. Which Greek mathematician and “father of geometry” is it named after?

Answer: Euclid

Spare Question 2:

Founded during the Cold War, the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War was awarded the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. What appropriately replaces the Rod of Asclepius in the organisation's its logo?

Answer: Missile (Accept: ICBM)

Spare Question 3:

S5E10 of House deals with Hereditary Coproporphyria, where the patient gets better after eating a common (usually baked) item. The episode is titled ___ ____ ___ ____ (3,4,3,4) to describe this treatment. What title, which referred originally to a lack of understanding that the absence of basic food staples was due to poverty?

Answer: Let Them Eat Cake

Spare Question 4:

Schlemm's canal is a circular lymphatic-like vessel in the eye. what transparent water-like fluid secreted from the ciliary body does this canal deliver into the episcleral blood vessels? This fluid keeps the eye from drying out.

Answer: Aqueous humour