Zephyr Quiz League

Round 1

Player 1 Question 1:

Which 19th century painter spent 43 years in this house in Giverny, that has now been transformed into a museum? The museum's highlights are its two gardens – Clos Normand and the Water Garden – elements from which have been immortalised in the artist's works.

Answer: Claude Monet

Player 1 Question 2:

Part of the nation of Papua New Guinea and located to its northeast, which sea was the site of a major Japanese naval defeat in March 1943? It is named for the Reichskanzler of the colonial power that controlled these waters from 1885 until 1914.

Answer: Bismarck Sea (Accept: Otto von Bismarck)

Player 2 Question 1:

The Great Spa Towns of Europe is a transnational World Heritage Site consisting of 11 spa towns across seven European countries. Which city, that gets its name from the structures built by the Romans around the city's natural springs, is the only site from England that is part of this list?

Answer: Bath

Player 2 Question 2:

In the first installment of Assassin’s Creed, the assassin Altair approaches the commander of a faction fighting in the Battle of Arsuf in 1191 AD. Altair urges this commander to make peace with the larger and stronger opposition. Who is this commander that won the battle in real life?

Answer: Richard the Lionheart; (Accept Richard I; Prompt: Richard or King of England); You can see the lion insignia on his chest. He defeated Saladin during the Third Crusade.

Player 3 Question 1:

Guitarist Zoltan Bathory stated that he came up with the name Five Finger Death Punch for his band after being amused by a scene involving a similar move in which 2004 film?

Answer: Kill Bill: Volume 2 (Grudingly Accept: Kill Bill)

Player 3 Question 2:

In 1954, Har Gobind Khorana used the carbodiimide reaction to synthesise which organic compound that was discovered by Yellapragada Subbarow and Cyrus Fiske? Found in all known forms of life, it is the principal molecule for storing and transferring energy in cells.

Answer: ATP or Adenosine triphosphate

Player 4 Question 1:

Glenn Close has been nominated eight times for an Academy Award but is yet to win one. In 2012, she was nominated for her role as the titular Albert Nobbs but lost out to which actress who holds her own Academy Award superlative? She won for her role in a biopic about an aging politician.

Answer: Meryl Streep, who won for The Iron Lady

Player 4 Question 2:

In 1654, which French mathematician was presented with two gambling problems related to a popular dice game by his friend Antoine Gombaud? This led to the notion of expected value and the invention of probability theory, which laid the framework for an eponymous wager, published posthumously in the Pensées, to justify belief in God and a virtuous life.

Answer: Blaise Pascal

Round 2

Player 1 Question 1:

Travels with a _________ (9) : From Morocco to Turkey in the Footsteps of Islam's Greatest Traveler by Tim Mackintosh-Smith traces the journey of Ibn Battuta. What demonym (9) fills in the blank? It describes a resident of Ibn Battuta's hometown and is also the name of a citrus fruit named after the same city.

Answer: Tangerine (Prompt: Tangier); A Tangerine is a native of Tangier.

Player 1 Question 2:

Embraced as a symbol of balance in various occult traditions, which half-human, half-goat was allegedly worshipped as a deity by the Templars? In the 19th century, this deity got intertwined with Éliphas Lévi's Sabbatic Goat image, which later inspired the symbol of the devil in tarot decks.

Answer: Baphomet

Player 2 Question 1:

Named after a technique ubiquitous in medicine, what term is used to refer to the chess tactic that involves indirectly attacking an enemy piece through another piece, or defending a friendly piece through an enemy piece? In the visual, the white queen is viewing the black bishop through the black queen.

Answer: X-ray

Player 2 Question 2:

The men’s 100 metres butterfly event at the 2016 Rio Olympics witnessed an unprecedented three-way tie for the Silver medal, with all swimmers covering the distance in 51.14 seconds. Chad le Clos of South Africa and Laszlo Cseh of Hungary were two out of the three. Who was the third?

Answer: Michael Phelps

Player 3 Question 1:

Tom Ford began his eponymous fashion label while also serving as creative director for which fashion house, a position he took up in 1994? The Italian house, featuring in the stage name of rapper Radric Delantic Davis, acquired Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) in 1997.

Answer: Gucci; The rapper is Gucci Mane.

Player 3 Question 2:

Famous for its deep-sea trenches, including the Mariana Trench, which sea gives its name to a battle that occurred near the Mariana Islands in June 1944? Called “the greatest carrier battle of the war”, this battle, along with the Battle of Leyte Gulf, marked the end of Japanese aircraft carrier operations.

Answer: Philippine Sea

Player 4 Question 1:

What one-word, eponymous 2003 biopic deals with an author's romance with a more successful poet, their subsequent marriage, and her suffocating life (not literally stuck inside a laboratory equipment) that lead, eventually, to a meticulously planned, tragic end?

Answer: Sylvia; Be generous and accept Sylvia Plath OR Plath although that isnt the name of the movie.

Player 4 Question 2:

UB40 is an English reggae and pop band that named themselves after the Form 40 required to claim monthly monetary aid from a particular branch of the UK government. What does "UB" in UB-40 stand for?

Answer: Unemployment Benefit

Round 3

Player 1 Question 1:

One of Glenn Close's most iconic roles was in the 1987 film Fatal Attraction, for which she was nominated for Best Actress. She lost out to which actress starring in a romantic comedy-drama alongside Nicholas Cage? She is also part of a famous music duo.

Answer: Cher (Accept: Cherilyn Sarkisian) in Moonstruck

Player 1 Question 2:

The men’s High Jump event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics witnessed a two-way tie for the Gold medal, with both jumpers hitting 2.37 metres. Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy was one. Which sunglass-wielding Qatari athlete was the other?

Answer: Mutaz Essa Barshim

Player 2 Question 1:

Ibn Battuta's primary reason for embarking on his travels was to perform the Hajj. He travelled from Morocco in the _______ (7) region to Mecca in the Mashriq region. Which region (7) fills in the blank? Etymologically, the two regions of the Arab Islamic world translated to "sunset" and "sunrise" respectively.

Answer: Maghreb

Player 2 Question 2:

In 1564, which Italian polymath wrote Liber de ludo aleae (Book on Games of Chance), that laid out the first systematic treatment of probability? One of the most influential mathematicians of the Renaissance, in his 1545 book Ars Magna, he made the first systematic use of negative numbers in Europe.

Answer: Geronimo OR Girolamo OR Gerolamo Cardano

Player 3 Question 1:

Created by the bartenders of either Chasen's or Brown Derby or the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in the mid-1930s, which mocktail, a combination of ginger ale, grenadine syrup and lime juice, with a maraschino cherry on top, was named after the popular child star of the day for whom it was first made?

Answer: Shirley Temple

Player 3 Question 2:

La Casa Azul (The Blue House) located in the Colonia del Carmen neighbourhood in Coyoacán was the birthplace and home of which 20th century artist? It is now a popular museum featuring artworks, collected artifacts and personal contraptions used by the artist.

Answer: Frida Kahlo

Player 4 Question 1:

In Assassin’s Creed: Rogue, the assassin Shay Cormac is sent to a city in the 1750s to retrieve an artifact called Piece of Eden from within a temple beneath the Carmo Convent. What does he trigger, when he tries to remove it?

Answer: The 1755 Lisbon Earthquake (Prompt on Lisbon or Earthquake)

Player 4 Question 2:

Michael Kors began his eponymous fashion label while also serving as creative director for which fashion house, a position he took up in 1997? In 2004, he stepped down as the heart of this company, which seems like it will always go on under the helm of recent directors such as Phoebe Philo and Hedi Slimane.

Answer: Celine

Round 4

Player 1 Question 1:

What one-word, eponymous 2020 biopic is a fictionalised account of an author's life and the creation of the 1951 novel Hangsaman following on the success of her 1948 short story that established her as a force in a particular genre? The movie is based on the premise that Hangsaman was inspired both by the real-life disappearance of a college sophomore and the troubled life of a fictional couple who live in her house at that time.

Answer: Shirley; Be generous and accept Shirley Jackson OR Jackson although that isnt the name of the movie.

Player 1 Question 2:

_______ (7) is a 1916 opera by Gustav Holst. It is based on a tale from the Mahabharata, where its titular figure outwits Yama to reclaim her husband. What is the name of the opera?

Answer: Savitri

Player 2 Question 1:

Known for its rich biodiversity, this sea off the northeast coast of Australia was the site of a naval battle between Allied and Imperial Japanese naval units, which resulted in the prevention of the Japanese sea-borne invasion of Port Moresby. What marine invertebrates, that form compact colonies of several identical polyps, lend their name to this sea?

Answer: Coral Sea; The site of the Great Barrier Reef.

Player 2 Question 2:

In 1980, Sandip Kumar Basu helped establish the pathway of low density lipoprotein receptors. This laid the foundation for Brown and Goldstein's 1985 Nobel Prize-winning work that developed statins as a treatment for the reduction of which class of waxy, fat-like organic molecules? It gets its name from the Ancient Greek words for "bile" and "solid".

Answer: Cholesterol

Player 3 Question 1:

Which god of fire and lightning in Aztec mythology is commonly depicted as a dog-headed man and was a soul-guide for the dead? The canine brother and twin of Quetzalcoatl, he once transformed into a salamander to save himself from being sacrificed.

Answer: Xolotl (Grudingly Accept: Axolotl); The axolotl is named after this god.

Player 3 Question 2:

According to his Rihla (Travels), in the 1330s, Ibn Battuta visited ____ (4) a port town situated on the River Don. The town contributes to the name of the northern extension of a big water body, and also a far-right group currently fighting the Russians in the Donbas. Which town?

Answer: Azov, the source of the name of the Sea of Azov and the Azov Battalion/Regiment

Player 4 Question 1:

In a rare departure from the tradition of cocktails inspiring mocktails, Shirley Temple has spawned several alcoholic variations. What word gets prefixed to Shirley Temple when a liquor (usually vodka or gin) is added to it? The same word is used as a prefix for martinis with a splash of olive brine added to it.

Answer: Dirty Shirley

Player 4 Question 2:

Which city, that is named after the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, is one of three sites from Czech Republic that is part of the Great Spa Towns of Europe list? Lending its name to an administrative region in the country, it is Europe's largest spa complex.

Answer: Karlovy Vary (Accept: Carlsbad/Karlsbad; Prompt: Charles)

Round 5

Player 1 Question 1:

Marc Jacobs began his eponymous fashion label while also serving as creative director for which fashion house, a position he took up in 1997? The house's name features in the name of the largest luxury conglomerate in the world.

Answer: Louis Vuitton

Player 1 Question 2:

What term is given to this common chess tactic that involves attacking a piece, consequently forcing it to move, and then capturing the piece behind it? It shares its name with a type of thin long entity used to hold pieces of food together.

Answer: Skewer

Player 2 Question 1:

Which mocktail was supposedly created as a boys’ version of the Shirley Temple, replacing the ginger ale in the latter with cola? It was named after an actor, singer and TV host known as "King of the Cowboys" for the huge popularity of his Westerns.

Answer: Roy Rogers

Player 2 Question 2:

Which royal house's name was mispronounced by band member Sam Halliday leading his North Irish band to be named as Two Door Cinema Club?

Answer: Tudor OR Tudors

Player 3 Question 1:

In Assassin’s Creed III, set during the American Revolution, the assassin Connor Kenway accompanies someone for part of a journey, keeping him safe from British soldiers until the two have to separate. Which 10-12 mile long journey?

Answer: The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere (Accept: Variants that convey Paul Revere’s Ride/Journey)

Player 3 Question 2:

Glenn Close's first nomination was in 1982 for her supporting role in the film The World According to Garp. She lost out to which actress for her performance in the film that also features in the name of this chocolate taffy?

Answer: Jessica Lange in Tootsie

Player 4 Question 1:

The scene of major U.S.-Japanese naval encounters during World War II, which sea is located to the east of Papua New Guinea, and opens to the Coral Sea (south), and the Bismarck Sea (northwest)? It shares its name with an island nation to its east, whose capital is at Honiara.

Answer: Solomon Sea (Accept: Solomon Islands)
These are the Solomon Islands

Player 4 Question 2:

_________ (9 or 10) is a 1921 opera by Italian composer Franco Alfano. It is based on a text from the 4th or 5th century CE and focuses on a story segment where its titular figure faces recognition issues from another major character. What is the name of the opera?

Answer: Sakuntala or Shakuntala, based on Kalidasa’s Abhijnanashakuntalam

Round 6

Player 1 Question 1:

What word gets suffixed to Shirley Temple when a cocktail version of it uses dark rum instead of vodka or any other white liquor? Appropriately enough, it also happens to be the actress’s married surname.

Answer: Shirley Temple Black

Player 1 Question 2:

The American new wave band B-52s get their name from which hairstyle, itself named for the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress? The group's female singers often donned this hairdo during their early years.

Answer: Beehive

Player 2 Question 1:

The demons Madhu and Kaitabha once stole the Vedas from Brahma. Following this, Vishnu took the form of which horse-headed divine being to retrieve the Vedas from the bottom of the ocean? This form of Vishnu is worshipped as the god of knowledge and wisdom.

Answer: Hayagriva

Player 2 Question 2:

Glenn Close was nominated in 1983 for her role in The Big Chill. She lost out to which actress portraying the role of Billy Kwan in the Year of Living Dangerously? She was the first woman to win an Academy Award for portraying a man.

Answer: Linda Hunt

Player 3 Question 1:

Which city, known for its opulent thermal baths, is the only site from France in the Great Spa Towns of Europe list? From 1940 to 1942, this then-fashionable resort town served as the seat of the short-lived French regime led by Philippe Pétain.

Answer: Vichy

Player 3 Question 2:

In 1654, which French mathematician carried out the first-ever rigorous probability calculation after Blaise Pascal reached out to him seeking help for solving the two gambling problems posed by Antoine Gombaud? He made lasting contributions to number theory, advanced the study of optics and laid the foundation for calculus.

Answer: Pierre de Fermat

Player 4 Question 1:

Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases credits Ibn Battuta as being the earliest to mention the etymology of which geographic formation, describing it as the place where slaves taken from India to Turkmenistan died in the harsh climatic conditions there? Casting doubt on this etymology, Hobson-Jobson offers an alternate one – as being a corruption of the Latin word "Indicus" or "Caucasus Indicus".

Answer: Hindu Kush, whose name meant the “killer of Hindus”

Player 4 Question 2:

“I want my museum to be a single block, a labyrinth...a totally theatrical museum. The people who come to see it will leave with the sensation of having had a theatrical dream." Which 20th century artist’s vision was translated (largely by himself) into the rebuilding of the old theatre in his hometown, Figueres, in Catalonia, as a museum? He lies buried in the crypt under the stage of the theatre.

Answer: Salvador Dali

Round 7

Player 1 Question 1:

Which city, with a reduplicated name, is one of three German sites inducted as part of the Great Spa Towns of Europe list? Deriving its name from the German word for "bath", it is located in the state that is commonly shortened to "BaWü".

Answer: Baden-Baden; BaWü expands to Baden-Württemberg.

Player 1 Question 2:

In 1954, G. N. Ramachandran along with Gopinath Kartha used advanced crystallography to propose the triple helical structure of which structural protein found in the body's various connective tissues? Deriving its name from the Greek word for "glue", it's the most abundant protein in the human body.

Answer: Collagen

Player 2 Question 1:

Which artist of the De Stijl movement was born in 1872 in this house in Amersfoort that has since been turned into a museum? Among other things, it features a room where children can hop across reflections of coloured blocks on the floor.

Answer: Piet Mondrian

Player 2 Question 2:

Karl Lagerfeld began his eponymous fashion label while also serving as creative director for which fashion house, a position he took up in 1983? He popularised the use of the eponymous founder's monogram, consisting of interlocked letters, as the house's logo.

Answer: Chanel

Player 3 Question 1:

What one-word, eponymous 2018 biopic deals with the early career of a Burgundy-born author who moves to Paris after marriage? The movie deals with 4 partly autobiographical novels that she ghostwrites under her husband's name and her later struggle over creative ownership of the novels.

Answer: Colette; Prompt on Claudine which is the name of the character in the 4 part book series.

Player 3 Question 2:

In 2008, Bollywood director Sanjay Leela Bhansali directed the 1923 opera _________ (9) by French composer Albert Roussel for the prestigious Theatre Du Chatelet in Paris. Bhansali had worked on an episode of the Indian television series Bharat Ek Khoj based on the same source material, and would make use of it again in his directorial career. Name this opera based on a poem from the 16th century AD.

Answer: Padmavati (Accept Padmaavat)

Player 4 Question 1:

The Bronze in the men’s Rackets Singles event at the 1908 London Olympics was shared by Henry Brougham of Great Britain and one of his countrymen. This medallist was a member of a prominent family and had the same name as many of his relatives, one of whom died in the Titanic disaster and another regarded as the first multi-millionaire in the US. What was their common surname?

Answer: John Jacob Astor

Player 4 Question 2:

For its ability to control the maximum number of squares possible for a knight, what term is given to a well-placed knight in the middle of a chessboard? This tentacled tactic was famously used in the 1985 World Championship match between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov.

Answer: Octopus Knight (Accept: Octopus)

Round 8

Player 1 Question 1:

Characters in the Assassin’s Creed universe can relive memories of assassins of the past. Giovanni, member of a Spanish-Aragonese noble family which rose to prominence during the Italian Renaissance, dreams of the memories of Brutus and almost stabs his uncle while sleepwalking, believing him to be Julius Caesar. Who is this uncle, also a major inspiration for The Prince by Machiavelli? Full name needed.

Answer: Cesare Borgia (Cesare = Caesar, prompt on Cesare or Borgia)

Player 1 Question 2:

In 1657, which Dutch mathematician wrote De Ratiociniis in Ludo Aleae (The Value of all Chances in Games of Fortune), the first book on probability theory after learning of the subject from the correspondence of Pascal and Fermat? He was the inventor of the pendulum clock and the proposer of the wave theory of light.

Answer: Christiaan Huygens

Player 2 Question 1:

What one-word, eponymous 2001 biopic deals with the life of a Booker Prize-winning author contrasting between her younger days and her later life ravaged by Alzheimer's? While it is primarily set in Oxford, Southwold in Suffolk serves as the setting for some of the scenes by the sea. This film is one of only two instances in which two actors have been nominated for an Academy Award for playing the same character in the same film.

Answer: Iris; Be generous and accept Iris Murdoch OR Murdoch although that isnt the name of the movie.
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Player 2 Question 2:

____ (4), Re dell’Indie (“_____ (5), King of the Indians”) is a 1731 opera by George Frideric Handel. Set in India, it is centred around its titular figure, best known for a conflict in 326 BC. Who is this? The blanks are variants of the same name.

Answer: Poro or Porus or Puru, who unsuccessfully fought Alexander in the Battle of Hydaspes.

Player 3 Question 1:

The women’s floor event at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics saw two gymnasts tie for Gold after hitting an identical score of 18.733. If Agnes Keleti of Hungary is one, which Soviet athlete, who still holds the record for the most Olympic gold medals by a gymnast, is the other?

Answer: Larisa Latynina

Player 3 Question 2:

What term is used to refer to the chess tactic where a piece repeatedly gains material while simultaneously creating an inescapable series of alternating direct and discovered checks? It gets its name because the capturing piece performs a rotating series of checks with a consistency that is reminiscent of the movement seen in certain structures.

Answer: Windmill (Accept: See-Saw)

Player 4 Question 1:

Which goddess of ancient Egyptian religion is depicted as a cat-headed woman holding an ankh and sistrum? The goddess of pregnancy and childbirth, she was also worshipped as Ailuros in ancient Greek religion.

Answer: Bastet (Accept: B'sst, Baast, Ubaste, and Baset)

Player 4 Question 2:

In 1943, Yellapragada Subbarow successfully developed a method to isolate and synthesise which water-soluble vitamin as a protective agent against anemia? Found commonly in fortified breakfast cereals, it is essential for DNA/RNA synthesis, cell growth and production of RBCs.

Answer: Folic acid OR Folate OR Vitamin B9

Spare

Spare Question 1:

Alexander McQueen helmed his eponymous fashion label from 1992 to 2010, while also serving as creative director for which fashion house between 1996 and 2001? The house's most famous ambassador wore its designs in the films Sabrina, How to Steal a Million, and Charade among others.

Answer: Givenchy

Spare Question 2:

What two-word, eponymous 2017 biopic deals with an author's love and marriage to a (then) more famous author, the creation of her most famous work as part of a dare when she and a bunch of her friends were cooped in during a vacation in Geneva, and her subsequent struggle for attribution for the work that publishers thought was written by her husband?

Answer: Mary Shelley; Prompt but don't accept: Shelley - mention we are looking for a two-word name of the eponymous movie. Shelley could also refer to the husband PB Shelley who isnt the subject of the question.

Spare Question 3:

In 1967, Gopinath Kartha determined the molecular structure of which enzyme that catalyses the degradation of RNA into smaller components? It is also used to remove RNA during procedures for the isolation of plasmid and genomic DNA.

Answer: Ribonuclease (Accept: RNase)