Mindgames ed. 8

In which I scour Open and other news sources for questions based on recent events.

Q1. Don’t step on it until we fix it, said this company, for once, in the news for the wrong reasons.

Q2. ______ will take a bite out of Apple (4). Clue: Hyderabad

Q3. 1969, 1971, 1972 … (Name the big prize.)

Q4. Like the ‘Rainman’. Not like the ‘Rainman’. Name the movie.

Q5. Until recently, his business empire is estimated to be worth nearly Rs 500 crore. Nowadays, though, he makes only Rs 21/day as a semi-skilled labourer. Who and where?

Q6. “Is this what he gets for ending a 30-year war?” Is this what who gets?

Q7. Name the cartoonist

Q. Black for the eyes and brown-skinned. Name the actor. Clue: Question 4

Q9. ‘Bombay’ for ‘Pune’. (5)

Q10. ‘Red Queen, Mani Ratnam, Boys’. Please connect. (And please don’t say ‘movies’.)

Your first task in this round is to identify the person shown in the picture. Then, connect a, b and c to another well-known person, your final answer. All three ‘connections’ have to be explained for an entry to qualify as a ‘final answer’. Note: The picture clue a) is not the final solution.

a)

b) Amar Singh

c) Narendra Modi

Q: Who is connected to A, B and C?

Solutions to Mindgames 7 and the winner: Seven completed editions of Mindgames and we’re still looking for a prize-winner. Many, though, have come close. Speaking of which, last week, Umesh Dahiya almost won himself a six-month subscription to Open magazine. Alas, it was not to be. Congratulations, Umesh. Better luck next time, everyone!

A1. Bo, the lost language from the Andamans and Bo Derek from the movie 10.

A2. The actor, director and screenwriter, Salim Ahmed Ghoush was better known by his stage name ‘Cochin Haneefa’ (22 April 1951 – 2 February 2010).

A3. Jonathan Schwartz, former CEO of Sun tweeted in his resignation: ‘financial crisis/stalled too many customers/CEO no more’. Cho tweet!

A4. A picture of Mt. Fuji, Japan, taken from space and tweeted to Earth by flight engineer, Soichi Noguchi (one of the astronauts aboard the International Space Station currently orbiting our planet).

A5. When footballer, Brave John Terry lost the English captaincy for reasons we shan’t get into.

A6. In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to ________ (Speak). (In India, too, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak because he is being shouted down by all and sundry most of the time.)

A7. ‘Miss Kerala’ is an endangered ‘boutique’ fish, also known as the Red-lined Torpedo Barb and the somewhat less evocative Puntius denisonii. (Long live Miss Kerala.)

A8. For Shia Muslims, the holy city of Kerbala (also spelled as ‘Karbala’) is one of the holiest of city-shrines after Mecca, Medina and Najaf.

A9. The volcano, the only active one in India, on Barren Island, India, in the Bay of Bengal.

A10. Wired magazine idea of the Internet for next year’s Nobel peace prize. Good point.

a) Jairam Ramesh, MP, India and Bt Brinjal

b) The Colour Purple, which is the colour of garden-variety Brinjal.

c) Brad Bird is the maker of the delightful film Ratatouille. The dish ratatouille is made out of brinjal/aubergine/begun/eggplant

Final answer: Bt Brinjal, India’s first genetically modified vegetable.

In which I scour Open and other news sources for questions based on recent events.

Q1. Don’t step on it until we fix it, said this company, for once, in the news for the wrong reasons.

Q2. ______ will take a bite out of Apple (4). Clue: Hyderabad

Q3. 1969, 1971, 1972 … (Name the big prize.)

Q4. Like the ‘Rainman’. Not like the ‘Rainman’. Name the movie.

Q5. Until recently, his business empire is estimated to be worth nearly Rs 500 crore. Nowadays, though, he makes only Rs 21/day as a semi-skilled labourer. Who and where?

Q6. “Is this what he gets for ending a 30-year war?” Is this what who gets?

Q7. Name the cartoonist

Q. Black for the eyes and brown-skinned. Name the actor. Clue: Question 4

Q9. ‘Bombay’ for ‘Pune’. (5)

Q10. ‘Red Queen, Mani Ratnam, Boys’. Please connect. (And please don’t say ‘movies’.)

Your first task in this round is to identify the person shown in the picture. Then, connect a, b and c to another well-known person, your final answer. All three ‘connections’ have to be explained for an entry to qualify as a ‘final answer’. Note: The picture clue a) is not the final solution.

a)

b) Amar Singh

c) Narendra Modi

Q: Who is connected to A, B and C?

Solutions to Mindgames 7 and the winner: Seven completed editions of Mindgames and we’re still looking for a prize-winner. Many, though, have come close. Speaking of which, last week, Umesh Dahiya almost won himself a six-month subscription to Open magazine. Alas, it was not to be. Congratulations, Umesh. Better luck next time, everyone!

A1. Bo, the lost language from the Andamans and Bo Derek from the movie 10.

A2. The actor, director and screenwriter, Salim Ahmed Ghoush was better known by his stage name ‘Cochin Haneefa’ (22 April 1951 – 2 February 2010).

A3. Jonathan Schwartz, former CEO of Sun tweeted in his resignation: ‘financial crisis/stalled too many customers/CEO no more’. Cho tweet!

A4. A picture of Mt. Fuji, Japan, taken from space and tweeted to Earth by flight engineer, Soichi Noguchi (one of the astronauts aboard the International Space Station currently orbiting our planet).

A5. When footballer, Brave John Terry lost the English captaincy for reasons we shan’t get into.

A6. In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to ________ (Speak). (In India, too, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak because he is being shouted down by all and sundry most of the time.)

A7. ‘Miss Kerala’ is an endangered ‘boutique’ fish, also known as the Red-lined Torpedo Barb and the somewhat less evocative Puntius denisonii. (Long live Miss Kerala.)

A8. For Shia Muslims, the holy city of Kerbala (also spelled as ‘Karbala’) is one of the holiest of city-shrines after Mecca, Medina and Najaf.

A9. The volcano, the only active one in India, on Barren Island, India, in the Bay of Bengal.

A10. Wired magazine idea of the Internet for next year’s Nobel peace prize. Good point.

a) Jairam Ramesh, MP, India and Bt Brinjal

b) The Colour Purple, which is the colour of garden-variety Brinjal.

c) Brad Bird is the maker of the delightful film Ratatouille. The dish ratatouille is made out of brinjal/aubergine/begun/eggplant

Final answer: Bt Brinjal, India’s first genetically modified vegetable.

About The Author

Avinash Subramaniam