Lot of puzzles to puzzle you

We recently had an innovation week celebration in our company and as a part of it, there was a daily puzzle contest. I had prepared around 4-5 puzzles every day and sent them across by mail. Given below are all the puzzles. Mail the answers to me through my contact email (top leftof the page). Answers will be given when replies stop coming in.

PUZZLE 1: Head of the Pack
Let me tell you a thing or two about solving puzzles. It is much easier than you think it is. Maybe, all the big puzzle competitions happen only in the capitals of the various countries, but this doesn’t mean you can’t capitalize on the other opportunities. Actually, the capitalism existing in our country is preventing us from spending more time on solving puzzles. Sometimes, this lack of time to solve puzzles results in lesser innovation in organizations. So, it is time to throw out the bureaucracy and come together to solve all the puzzles. One always wonders whether such techniques do yield results, but believe me, they do. Last, but never the least, we hope that you were able to find the name of the city.

PUZZLE 2: Piled up in Egypt
The boxes are arranged such that the number inside a box is equal to the sum of the numbers of the two boxes supporting it (i.e. the two boxes below it). No number is repeated and all numbers are greater than zero. What is the number in the topmost box?

PUZZLE 3: A puzzle on my table!
After seeing this puzzle kept on the table, even Dr.Watson would have been tempted to say, “It’s elementary, my dear!”
99, 15, 53, 8, 11, 32

PUZZLE 4: STR-ANG-E OR-GANI-SMS
Given below is an empty crossword. You have to fit the following words into the grid. Then the letters in the colored cells will give you the answer.
Words: 282, 2253***, 28669, 78779, 5262

PUZZLE 5: Counting the Extras
Corfu
Either
Viefi
Nerves
Open
Sexi
Wort

Look at the words above. All of them have something extra. Once you identify the “extra” bit, do the most logical thing and you will get the seven letter answer.

PUZZLE 6: TOUR OF LIMASSOL
Amdocs Social Club has organized a tour of Limassol. You are here, sharp at 8 AM on a nice Saturday morning. As you try to board the bus, the driver asks you for a password. You say to the driver that you were not given any password when you registered in the survey. The driver says that the survey system had crashed on Friday night and the only way they could allow people to get on the bus was through this password system. You try to argue, but to no avail. As you turn back, the driver says “Sorry, my friend. Maybe, you can have a look at some of the photographs taken by your friends during the previous tour”. You grab the paper thinking that the driver was just making fun of you. But, soon you realize otherwise. The paper seems to be a collage of 9 photographs with people gesturing through some strange signs. You immediately start decoding the message and realize that it indeed has the password. Can you find the password from the collage below? You can download a higher resolution picture here. Thanks to Harish and Anith for modeling for this puzzle. Btw, both are right-handed and hence, their right hands take priority over their left.

PUZZLE 7: MILITARY TALK
Do you know the NATO phonetic alphabet? If not, search it up on the net. In the passage below, the NATO phonetic code words of all letters of the alphabet (A to Z) but one have been encoded. Find the one alphabet which has been omitted. To get you started, I shall give an example: Alpha (for letter A) has been encoded as one of the “Two Greeks”.

(Repeat Twice): Tyson and his father (in a radiation outfit) went to a country, a Canadian province and a capital city. There they met Frankenstein, two Greeks, an African, an American and his angels. They danced twice (to critical acclaim), had a drink in the local Mariott, played a sport, watched a play by William and before December they founded a software company, for which they won an award.

PUZZLE 8: PRIME-TIME PUZZLE
All the numbers in the table below can be expressed as a product of some primes. Do the prime factorization for each of them and then look for some pattern to find the 8-letter word!

9699690	510510	4849845
248710	39	2926
248710	285285	14630
49742	39	2090
746130	6630	53295

PUZZLE 9: Just another day in Cyprus
I have Cypriot neighbors. They are a small family with the husband, wife and their three kids – Andreas, Nicos and Nicolas. Mr. Christos, 42 years old, works in the LAPD (Limmasol Area Police Department) and Mrs. Christos is a housewife. Mr. Christos is former national backgammon champion. Mrs. Christos is highly educated and it seems that she chose to give up her good job to take care of her family. Mr. Christos works 6 days a week and starts at 7 AM in the morning. So, it was yet another boring Saturday when I was lazing around on my balcony. I noticed a guy walk over to the front door of our neighbor’s and this is the conversation I heard (translated to English for your convenience).
Guy (G): Good morning, I am from the PENTAGON (People EstimatioN Team And Government Organization Nicosia) and I wish to know the details of your family.
Mrs. Christos (MC): Yes, what details do you want?
G: Do you have kids?
MC: Yes
G: How many?
MC: Three
G: What are their ages?
I saw a smile on MC’s face. Then she said, “So, are you in a mood to do some math?”
G (with a smile on his face): Of course Ma’am, tell me.
MC: If you multiply the ages of my three kids, you will get three dozens.
MC: If you add the ages of my three kids, the number is the same as my door number.
G (Thinks for a while): Nope, I need more clues!
MC: You know, my eldest is a spoilt kid who spends the entire day playing backgammon in that coffee shop.
G: Thanks you Ma’am, I know their ages now.
Now, all you have to do is to find the ages of the three kids.

PUZZLE 10: BILINGUALLY SPEAKING!
Nowadays, more security personnel are required at football matches compared to international borders, as the probability of trouble seems to be higher in the former. So, it was no surprise that BBC were taking extreme precautions before reporting on an upcoming Russia-England football match. Any partisan report by the BBC could spell trouble for its loyal supporters and would enable its competitors like CNN get the international edge. So, they went looking for a person knowledgeable in football, but also impartial to both Russia and England. They found one Mr. Edvard Garringue Gotwald, a former footballer of the Czech Republic, who knew a lot about the Russian and the English sides and was also well conversant in both Russian and English.
So, the match happened on 18th July 2001. It was a closely fought encounter and the cops managed to keep off the hooligans and ensured that the match went on well. The editor of BBC received the match report from Mr. Edvard. He was shocked! It looked like Mr. Edvard, in the excitement of the match, mixed both Russian and English while writing the report. So, what does the report say? Btw, the final score in the match was Russia-1, England-0.

PUZZLE 11: STUCK IN JAIL
Samuel is stuck inside a jail in Libya. He is full of remorse and has sent you the secret note below. What does it say?

PUZZLE 12: WATCH THE CHANGE!
See the gif file below. You should see different images in the gif are played one after another. Imagine a 5*5 grid of LEDs. Only few LEDs are switched on at a time. The switched-on LEDs appear as white circles in the image. There is a 7-letter word encoded in these blinking LEDs. Better switch your brain to mode X OR you will never find the answer!

PUZZLE 13: A Visit to Kykkos Monastery
A team in DVCC wanted to go for a project event. They decided to go for a walk on a forest trail leading to a monastery. Only few members of the team knew about the trail and it was up to them to guide the rest of the group.
They started off going northwards. Then they turned east. Then a superstitious person suggested that they rather go south. After walking for some time, they realize that they had reached a dead-end. So, they cursed the superstitious guy and then retrace their way north. Once they reached the point from where they turned south, they continued in the original direction. A little later, they reached a dead-end. Then the superstitious person laughs and suggests again walking southwards. After some time, they take a well deserved break.
After a 15 minute break, they continue walking south. Once they reach the fountain marked on the map, they turned eastward as suggested. After what seemed like a long time, they came across a signpost on the road pointing towards the north. So, they turn north and walk for another half an hour and then rest for lunch.
After lunch, people were not in a mood to continue. But, they had to reach their destination before nightfall. So, the group leader urged the group to start walking westwards. After some time, the path turned to the south. Just after a short distance, there was a sign pointing towards east. So, they turned east. Now that the sun was behind them, they didn’t feel the heat of the sun. So, they didn’t realize that they had walked quite a distance when the map suggested that they turn south again. So, they dutifully followed. Then, almost immediately, the path turned west again. Then, after walking west for around 30 mins, they stopped for a tea-break.
After the rejuvenating tea, they started walking eastwards. After what seemed like a long walk, they came to a dead-end. Then one person casually said; ”Ah, maybe we should have taken the path to the south which came some time earlier!”. They all cursed him and retraced their path due-west. When they came to the turning mentioned by this person, they turned south and marched on. After 1 hour, they saw their destination before them, the grand monastery of Kykkos. At the gate of the monastery, the guard asked them for the password. The group leader who had been taking notes all the time during the trek realized the password and told it to the guard. It was the correct password and they all happily retired to the guest rooms at the monastery. So, do you know the password?

PUZZLE 14: The search for Cypriot villages
Find the following village names in the grid below. The remaining letters would tell you how to get the answer. The words can be oriented horizontally, vertically or diagonally. The letters in the grid below can be reused for more than one word, but not in more than 2 words.

PUZZLE 15: GRAFFITTI OR GRAPH?
The Cyprus government has long suspected the British of monitoring all email communications passing through Cyprus. But, they have never been able to prove it. They ask for your help in uncovering the secrets of the big white dome on top of the Troodos Mountains. But, this task is easier said than done. It is a well known fact that the dome is patrolled by less than a dozen soldiers, but the hi-tech security around the dome is almost impenetrable. In the guise of a regular tourist looking for a good spot to ski, you reach the side-doors of the dome. You see lot of graffiti on the wall and think aloud; “These football fans haven’t left alone even this place!” You see a monitor on the door asking for a password. Then you realize that the graffiti might actually be the key to this. You start plotting points assuming that each pair of letters connects the vertices labeled by the alphabets. Slowly, letters start to appear and finally, you get the password. What is the password?

PUZZLE 16: A TIGHT FIT
The eight tiles below must be fitted into the pattern so as to form 4 words reading across and 5 words reading down. The tiles cannot be rotated or modified in any form. Find the 9 words.

PUZZLE 17: FORM YOUR OWN QUESTION
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ?
Fit in the letters below to form the question above and then find the answer. No need to change the orders of the letters in each group of three. Just find the right position to place the group as such.

APO	BEA	BUM?	NWA	SAL
SAL	SOA	TLE	TWE	WHA

PUZZLE 18: READING BETWEEN THE WORDS
Each sentence below contains a country’s name within it. Find each of the countries.
a. My landlords went to a spa in Latvia for this year’s holidays.
b. To find the Great Wall, search in an Asian country.

c. It is normal in this country to walk to work.
d. This country has a fine palace where horses live.
e. You have to visit this city to enjoy such adventures.
f. While attending the innovation session i germinate ideas for the next big thing.
g. The crowd consists of thousands of people so those leaving cannot be monitored individually.
h. The rough analysis proved that this machine does not work.

PUZZLE 19: GOING TO THE MOVIES
For all you movie buffs out there, these puzzles should be a piece of cake! Each of these rebuses solve to a movie name. (14 movies)




Enjoy!!!!!!!!

India's very own dumb blondes

Okay, they are not blonde, but they do represent what "dumb blondes" are supposed to be famous for - their dumbness. Yesterday's episode of "Kya Aap Panchvi pass sey tez hai" was a special episode with stars from TV soaps making their appearance on the show and wining money for charity.
Sarah Khan(Sadhna) and Parul Chauhan (Ragini) of “Sapna Babul Ka….Bidaai” were on first and right from the start, they seemed to be perfect candidates to fail a 5th class exam. Usually on the show, insets are shown about the educational achievements of the participants to embarrass them further if they don't answer a question. But, this was not the case for these two. Maybe, the producers knew that even after "preparing" them for the show, they would make a fool of themselves, that he decided not to embarrass them further. Or, they became models at such an early age that they didn't have time to complete class 5. How else would you explain the following responses:
Question 1 - Find the number of common nouns beginning with the letter "B" in the following sentence: In Bombay, I met Billoo with a basket in a blue bus.
So, the stars (the two girls) start thinking aloud. Parul says, "Basket and bus must be the two common nouns". But, the smarter Sara says, "What about Bombay, it is a common place, so it must be a common noun"!!!!
The producers then realised that their questions would prove too tough for this pair, but it was too late. Maybe they should have put Timbuktoo instead of Bombay, then Sara would have said, "Timbuktoo is not such a common place, so it cannot be a common noun"

Question 2 - Neil Armstrong was the first person on the moon. Which country does he belong to?
Parul is quite confident and she says "America". Shah Rukh, who is aware of their dumbness, wants to take them for a ride and says, "That is the name of the continent. I am looking for the name of the country". Immediately, the smart Sara says, "New York?". Shah Rukh then realises that any further discussion would embarrass the entire TV fraternity, so he accepts America and closes the question.

Question 3 - Which is the only mammal which can fly like a bird?
Parul, who has until now been overshadowed in being dumb by Sara, decides to take matter into her own hands and confidently says, "Kangaroo". Shah Rukh, desperately containing his laughter, goes to the center of the stage and imitates the movement of a Kangaroo and asks, "Are you sure that a Kangaroo flies like a bird?".

The producers by then had decided that they had had enough of this smart duo and decided to end their round and call on the next group. Now, i realise why TV soaps are so slow and prolong each and every scene. It is not the intention of the director, but it is the adaptability of the TV stars that is the problem. They seem to be so dumb that it takes them forever to understand and show an expression and the director has no other choice, but to capture the entire thing on camera!

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Hindu is a religion; Hindi is a language

Oh! westerner, please understand this. We don't speak Hindu, neither are Indians Hindis. Hindi is the most widely spoken language in India, but that doesn't make us Hindis. A majority of Indians are Hindus (acc to the latest census) , but that doesn't mean that we speak Hindu. We also don't speak Indian, by the way!
I understand the situation that you are in, with the people of Spain speaking Spanish, people of Germany speaking German , the English speaking English and so on. But, we don't ever ask you "Do you speak Christian?", do we?
I am an Indian first and everything follows after. The religion i follow is Hinduism and you know what, i don't speak Hindi! Not all Hindus speak Hindi. Similarly, not all Hindi speaking people are Hindus!
I am sure that you must now be in the exact situation you were in, before reading this post. But, the main idea was to convey the message that Hindu is a religion and Hindi is a language. Don't mix these up.
But, why this post suddenly ? I have recently become a big fan of the Jeopardy Quiz Show shown on MBC 4 every morning. Yeah, this is not the same season as in the US but a rerun of old seasons, nevertheless, the topics are interesting and the questions, smart. One of the questions today morning was

Hindi faithful make regular pilgrimages to & bathe in this 1,560-mile river of Northern India.

The answer to the above was obvious. "What is the Ganges?" But the point is, it is not the Hindi faithful who go there, but the Hindu faithful. How can such a reputed quiz show ask a question like this? But its ok, they are pardoned. They set thousands of questions, so one mistake can be ignored.

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Chakde India - The India Quiz Finals

If you haven't yet checked out the prelims questions of Chakde India Quiz, then you can do so at this link.

Posted below are the questions from the final. You can send in your answers to rajaram.sethuraman@gmail.com or if you have come here from a post on a quizzing forum, you can reply to my email on that forum.

1. The name of which Indian deity has made its way into the English language and has come to mean “a massive inexorable force or object that crushes whatever is in its path”? Ans: Juggernaut from Lord Jagannath
2. At which popular religious destination in India can you find Ram Jhula and Lakshman Jhula? Ans: Rishikesh
3. Which character in Hindu mythology got his name from his pot shaped head? Ans: Ghatotkacha
4. Which Indian musical instrument's name when translated into English means Royal Flute? Ans: Shehnai
5. What was the new lifeline introduced in Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) 2 apart from the three which were already present? Ans: Flip the question
6. Who along with Batukeshwar Dutt was arrested in 1929 for throwing bombs in the Central Assembly at New Delhi? Ans: Bhagat Singh
7. Of what’s English translation is this the first line. “Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people, dispenser of India’s destiny” Ans: Jana Gana Mana
8. On March 16,2005, Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, were found not guilty on all counts by a Canadian court. What crime were they accused of? Ans: Air India Kanishka Bombing
9. On 14th January every year, during the Makar Sankranti, what international festival is held at Ahmedabad? Ans: International Kite Festival
10. Oh, Creator of the universe! We meditate upon thy supreme splendor. May thy radiant power illuminate our intellects, destroy our sins, and guide us in the right direction." What is the significance of the above prayer? Ans: Gayatri Mantra
11. Identify the character. Ans: Shikari Shambu



12. Her mother's name is Bonnie Pandya, a Slovenian American. She is the second person of Slovenian descent to be sent to space. She apparently likes Samosas! Who? Ans: Sunita Williams
13. Originally introduced from India, it is the word for an open portico or light roofed gallery extending along the front of a dwelling or other building, and erected chiefly as a protection or shelter from the sun or rain. What word? Ans: Verandah
14. What started initially in 1984 between Esplanade and Bhavanipur, now covers a distance of 16.84 kilometers for Dumdum in the north to TollyGanj in the south? Ans: Kolkata Metro
15. Which famous jewel's name means "mountain of light"? Ans: Kohinoor
16. Kiron Kher had an unique credit in the titles of "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge". For what? Ans: Credit for title-writing, as she suggested the title. “Title Suggested By”
17. What is full form of T.T.E as in the guy who checks the tickets on our trains. Ans: Travelling Ticket Examiner
18. In August 1990, in a test match between India and England at Manchester, Sachin won the man of the match award. He was presented the award by X. The next day, the Manchester Police issued a warning notice to X and also said that they would not consider this as a serious offense just because of the situation this time. What was the warning issued? Ans: A bottle was champagne was given as the man of the match award and sachin was a minor then. It is legally forbidden to give alcohol to a minor.
19. Jermaine Jackson, Dirk Benedict, Ian Watkins, Danielle Lloyd, Jack Tweed, Cleo Rocos, Jo O'Meara, Jade Goody, Carole Malone, Leo Sayer Day, Jackiey Budden, Ken Russell Day, Donny Tourette and? Ans: Shilpa Shetty (Big Brother Celebrity Series)
20. What does the W/L sign seen on Indian Railway tracks indicate? Ans: Whistle For level Crossing
    
21. Connect Pavo cristatus, Panthera Tigris, Mangifera indica and Nelumba nucifera. Ans: All are National Symbols. Peacock, Tiger, Mango and Lotus
22. Complete the list: Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, Brihadeshwara Temple in Thanjavur, Arunachaleshwara Temple in Tiruvannamalai, Golden Temple in Amritsar, Bahubali Gommateshwara Statue in Shravanabelagola, Mahabalipuram near Chennai, Lotus Temple in New Delhi, Ranakpur Jain Temple and _________. Ans: Taj Mahal. The list of all Indian monuments which appeared in the original list of the new seven wonders
23. What is the planet Rahu responsible for, according to Hindy Mythology? Ans: Responsible for causing Solar eclipses
24. Identify the product for which this print ad was prepared. Ans: Fevicol



25. This message from the Mumbai Police was put on something and placed randomly on the roads of Mumbai. What was it placed on? Ans: 1 Rupee coin





26. There are 5 of these labs at different locations. The largest lab consists of fourteen major geometric devices for measuring various parameters. Each is a fixed and 'focused' tool. The largest instrument here is 90 feet high and has its shadow carefully plotted. Its face is angled at 27 degrees, the latitude of Jaipur. The Accuracy of the largest instrument measuring time is about two seconds. Ans: Jantar Mantar
27. The proposed name for this institution was ‘Imperial university’ which was not selected. The Maharaja of Mysore laid the foundation stone in 1911. How do we know it today? Ans: Indian Institute of Science
28. When asked 'Why are you so sure that the first man, Adam, was an Indian?', he replied 'Who else will stand beside a naked woman and eat an apple?'. Who? Ans : Osho
29. In the Ramayana, Vishwamitra takes Rama and lakshmana with him to slay the demoness Tataka. During the course of the Journey, they often slept on the banks of Sarayu river. Vishvamitra did something to wake Rama up every morning before dawn so that he can do his rites. What did he do? Ans: He composed and sang the Suprabadam
30. According to the legends the Gods & Goddesses pleaded with Lord Brahma to create another 'Veda' which would be simpler for the common man to understand. Lord Brahma created the 'Panchamaveda', an essence of the four other vedas. It is believed he has taken 'Pathya'(words) from the 'Rigveda', 'Abhinaya' (gesture) from 'Samaveda' & 'Rasa'(sentiment & emotional element) from the 'Atharvaveda'. After creating this he gave it to Sage Bharatha & asked him to popularise this on Earth. What did this lead to? Ans: Bharatnatyam
31. What was carried in a third class compartment numbered 2949 to Triveni, Allahabad on February 12, 1948? Ans: Ashes of Gandhi
32. The members of the Muduvar tribe, which inhabits the mountain ranges around Valparai (Tamil Nadu) and Munnar (Kerala) in the Western Ghats, have a unique method for calculating their ages. What is it? Ans: They calculate their age with the blossoming of the Kurinji flower, which blooms only once every 12 years
33. Bulgar, Gansu, Taklamakan Desert, Kashgar, Kokand, Karakum Desert, Merv. Which music band? Ans: Silk Route
34. Who is missing? Ans: Zakir Hussain



35. In an economic times article which was talking about business and marketing opportunities in India, there was a statement “There are three main religions in India. Hinduism, Islam and ____”. Which was the third that they mentioned ? Ans: Cricket
36. What is the name given to the class of tourist trains modeled on the “Palace On Wheels” but meant to serve tourists with a budget? Ans: Village on Wheels
37. Manoj Singh Naruka became a celebrity (for the wrong reasons) last week because of his Orkut community. What was his community's name? Ans: I hate Mayawati
38. Which famous politician played the role of Santa Claus at Beur Jail in Patna during the Christmas celebrations in 1998? Ans: Laloo Yadav
39. In Hindi it is called Saunf what is it called in English? Ans: Fennel Seeds
40. It is the national game of Bangladesh, and the state game of Punjab and Andhra Pradesh in India. Ans: Kabaddi
41. Which company is the manufacturer of the 155mm FH-77 B howitzer artillery system?Ans: Bofors
42. Which tree takes its name from the caste of merchants who often conducted meetings under these trees in the marketplace?Ans: Banyan from Baniya

Special Topics: Cricket

1) Who was the vice-captain of the Indian cricket team for the twenty20 world cup? Ans: Yuvraj
2) What is the contribution of Paul Hawkins to the world of cricket? Ans: Hawk Eye
3) Amay Khurasia had an unique claim fame in the 1999 world cup held in England. What? Ans: Didn't play a single match

Special Topics: Indian Mythology

1) Ten warriors survived the Kurukshetra war. Satyaki, Yuyutsu, Ashwathama, Kritavarma,Kripacharya were five of them. Who were the other five? Ans: Pandavas
2) Who is on the Flag of Arjuna? Ans: Hanuman
3) The 100 Kaurava brothers had one sister. Name her!Ans: Dushala

Special Topics: History

1) Which company manufactured the rifles whose “greased” cartridges was one of the factors leading to the 1857 revolution? Ans: Enfield
2) Which Indian King was the first to use rockets in warfare? Ans: Tipu Sultan
3) Which famous Indian king was called Sandracottus by the Greeks? Ans: Chandragupta Maurya

Hope you enjoyed this quiz. You can find hundreds of other quizzes on my quiz page. If you want your quiz blog/site listed on that, just drop in a mail.

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War of the Words: The Queen's Challenge!

Until a few decades ago, the English ruled the world. But now, English rules the world !
Are you better at English than the English ?
This is your best chance to find out.

Presenting an English Quiz that will redefine the meaning of knowing English!
It’s all about words: Anagrams, word chains, word links, crosswords, pictograms, word puzzles, word origins and much more…

COMING SOON!

Chakde India - The India Quiz Prelims

I conducted an India quiz about a month back here in amdocs. I am posting the prelims questions below. Leave the answers in the comments. Answers will be updated in about a week's time. By the way, the average in the quiz was around 75% and hence is supposed to be very easy.

1. Born to Narayan Paglu Rao in Maharashtra, she received her degree from Mooljee Jaitha (M.J.) College in Jalgaon. In 1962, she was also voted the "College Queen" in M.J College. She also excelled in Table Tennis and had won various inter-college events. She is currently married to Devisingh Ransingh (her third marriage). Identify her. >> Pratibha Devisingh Patil
2. One of the origins of the name of this place is from the word Kalikshetra, meaning "Ground of the Goddess Kali." Which place? >> Kolkata
3. 1. A Peepal tree 2. A banana tree 3. An idol 4. ??? >> Abhishek Bachchan. Aishwarya was "married" to the listed three before her marriage to Abhishek.
4. What do you have to do to make your life jingalala? >> Install Tata Sky. (From the Ad Jingle)
5. In Vedic times, a Brahmin boy was considered equal to an animal until a certain event took place. What was that event? >> Upannyanam or the thread ceremony
6. When Sachin Tendulkar went for his first Test series to Pakistan, he did not sign the contract with BCCI. Someone else signed it on his behalf. Who signed it and why? >> His father, as he was a minor then
7. This hill station is around 64 km from Pune and is also called the “Chikki” capital of India, as there are a lot of local outlets there manufacturing this sweet. Which place? >> Lonawala
8. Which Indian actor, who has not acted in any movies in his mother tongue, made his debut in the 1975 Kannada movie Katha Sangama? >> Rajinikanth
9. How do we better know baked chicken chunks cooked in curry sauce? >> Chicken Tikka Masala
10. What is common to Bo Derek, Maradona, The Prime Minister of England, Vishnu and this question? >> The number 10!
11. What is the capital of the state of Jharkhand? >> Ranchi
12. Lord Vishnu, in all his avatars, has spared the life of only one Asura. Who? This Asura who is still believed to be alive, visits once a year and a festival is celebrated because of his visit. Which festival? >> Mahabali and Onam
13. Yusuf Nulwalla, Sameer Hingora, Baba Chauhan, Zaibunnisa Anwar Kazi and Aziz Ahmed Mohammed. Who is the sixth? >> Sanjay Dutt
14. Dada, Abdulla & Co recruited a person on year long contract in the late 19th century and sent him for a posting in South Africa. Who? >> Mahatma Gandhi
15. Kusumpur, Pushpapur and Azeemabad are older names of which city? >> Patna
16. Below is the photo of the Indian team for a particular sport (a 1998 photo). Which sport? >> Sumo Wresting team of India!

    

17. On 31st October 1984, the 2nd ODI in the wills series between India and Pakistan was happening at Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot, Pakistan. Pakistan had won the toss and decided to field. India were 210/3 with Vengsarkar 94*. The match was abandoned then. Why? >> Indira Gandhi was assassinated

18. Whenever a forest is shown in a movie, it is always accompanied by a chirping sound. This is the sound of the cicada which is quite famous for the noise it produces in dense forests. There is a famous place in Kerala which is called ____ Valley because there are no cicadas in this forest. Fill in the blank. >> Silent Valley

19. English dictionaries tend to define the word as ‘a child's vehicle that typically has two wheels with a low footboard between them, is steered by a handlebar, and is propelled by pushing one foot against the ground while resting the other on the footboard’. What word? >> Scooter

20. Something made from sugar, corn syrup, corn starch and lecithin was enough to make Zaheer Khan very angry. What? >> Jelly Beans

21. In the NATO phonetic alphabet, A- Alpha, B- Bravo, C-Charlie etc. For one letter, something related to India appears. For which letter and what is the code? >> I for India

22. Father: Ramesh. He had 4 kids. Nitin, Savita and Ajit are three of them. Who is the fourth? >> Sachin Tendulkar

23. Americans call it a faucet. What do we call it in India? >> A Tap

24. For India, name the National Flower, the National Fruit, the National Animal and the National Bird? (0.5*4) >> Lotus, Mango, Tiger and Peacock

25. By doing a wordplay on the acronym html, this BITS Pilani graduate created something which took the world by storm. What? >> HoTMaiL

26. Who hit 5 sixers in Yuvraj’s last over in the match against England? >> Mascarenhas

27. Which is the national soup of India? >> Mulligatawney Soup

28. This waterway of around 150 kms width separates the Andaman Islands from the Nicobar Islands. What is its name? >> Ten Degree Channel

29. A word which has been formed recently. If you are ________, it means that you have lost your job because it has been outsourced to India. Fill the blank. >> Bangalored

30. X comes in different sizes like137*63 mm, 147*63 mm, 157*73 mm, 167*73 mm and 177*73 mm. What is X? I would definitely like to have many of the 177*73 ones. >> Currency Notes

If you are interested in more quizzes, check out my Quiz Page, which has links to probably all the quiz blogs around. Enjoy!

Quiz questions from a recent quiz event

Below are the questions from the pelims of a quiz contest recently conducted in amdocs. The questions were framed by Lokesh. Leave the answers in the comments. i shall publish the answers in a weeks time.

1. Name the project developed by a Stanford Univ. graduate, during his free time given officially by his employer. The name is an old Turkish word, meaning “city of happiness, pleasure, joy, luck”. >> Orkut
2. ___________is the country named after Lord Jesus, referring him as “The Saviour” in their native language. >> El Salvador
3. Hotmail --> Microsoft :: PeopleSoft --> Oracle :: Cramer --> Amdocs :: TimesTen --> ________. >> Oracle
4. ___________, a famous American Actor spent a great time on impressions, than his academics. His future was put into jeopardy, when he was nearly expelled for assaulting a Teacher in school, as the teacher referred him as a “caveman”. He has now surpassed the earning power of all other famous Hollywood Stars , with grosses as a leading man that total over US$3.35 billion. >> Eddie Murphy
5. In a pack of playing cards, “A” (Ace) had the least value, whereas “K” the most valued. But, after the _______, “A” is considered to have more value than “K” (King), depicting that the common civilians are more powerful than the King. >> The French Revolution
6. Identify the brand names for the following tag lines
   a. The Passionate Pursuit of Perfection. – ____________________ >> Lexus
   b. Like.no.other – ___________________________ >> Sony
   c. Sense and Simplicity – ____________________ >> Philips
   d. Ideas for life - ________________________ >>Panasonic
7. Connect the following cities: Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Rotterdam, Antwerp, New York. >> World's busiest Sea Ports and Commercial Centers
8. Whenever, we write the name of this famous website’s brand name, we generally end up in writing the name, which was trademarked by another company (manufacturer barbecue sauce and knives). What is the name of the website ? >> Yahoo!
9. Identify the Hollywood movie released in November 1980:
   The movie is the real-life story of an unlovable, stubborn middle-weight boxing champion as he struggles to be champion. The director of this movie even though was not recognized by Oscar, the applause for the movie was so much encouraging, and finally he hit the OSCAR Award for his recent movie. >> The Raging Bull
10. What is the name of the company, started in 1982, less than 25 years old and their couple of software products, combined are installed on more than 700 million connected PCs and devices worldwide. _________. >>Adobe
    What are the names of the software products ?? _______and ______>> Acrobat Reader and Flash Player
11. Dennis Gabor (1900–1979), a Hungarian physicist, received the Nobel Prize in physics in 1971, for his invention in 1947. His invention added a new dimension in consumer products labeling technology. What did he invent? _______ >> Holography
12. Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K , a company established in Nihonbashi after the Second World war, had its brand name as “Totsuko”. In Jan 1958, they chose a new brand name, because their customers of other nationalities were finding difficult to pronounce the brand name. This company is now called as ______>> Sony
13. The "CE" Mark, labeled on Toys, machinery, electrical and electronic items , has no meaning as an abbreviation in English, but the marking is done as an indication of _______.>> European Conformity (for safety) - Conformitte Europeane (in French)
14. VIACOM (a group which owns Paramount Pictures), started a chain of seafood restaurants, with the first restaurant in Cannery Row, CA. , inspired by __________, the movie they produced. The restaurant gained fame for its unique paging system consisting of two license plates on the tables. STOP & RUN. (Clue: Movie released in 1994 & a winner of 6 Oscars). >> Forrest Gump
15. i, i*j, i*j*j, i*j*j*j, …. where j is the common ratio and i is the scale factor. In mathematics the above sequence of numbers are termed as ________ .>> Geometric Progression
16. _____________, is the term used in Software Engineering to describe a dying project which has little by little become too complex to be understood even by its own developers.>> Software Peter Principle
17. Connect the words: Smart, Hero, Fire, Eight O’ Clock, Lift, Coke, Real Gold, Signature.>>Branded Drinks of Coca Cola Company
18. Admired by the philanthropic efforts by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, this multifaceted artist, declared that, when he dies he would donate half of his assets to charity to help the needy. (Clue : His birth name literally means “born in Hong Kong”). He is known to us as _______ >> Jackie Chan
19. B . C = Before Christ (Ex., 5th Century B.C)
    A . D = _________ (Ex. 20th Century A.D) >> Anno Domini
20. Expand the following acronyms. (0.5 x 4 = 2 Points)
    i. B M W - ______________ (Category :Automobile) >> Bayerische Motoren Werke
    ii. J V C - ________________ (Category: Electronics) >> Japan Victor Company
    iii. H S B C - _______________ (Category: Banking) >> Hongkong Shanghai Banking Corporation
    iv. N C R - ________________ (Category: ATMs , Technology) >> National Cash Register
21. On July 17, 2007, an Airbus A320 (Passenger Airliner), during its landing, slipped, overran the runway of Cogonhas Airport in Sao Paulo (Brazil), crashing into a warehouse. This is the deadliest air crash in Latin America, with no survivors on board. The plane was operated by __________ airlines. >>TAM Airlines
22. ______ , a famous Greek Mathematician, is “The Father of Geometry”. His unique way of solving the theorems, by logical reasoning and a set of accepted first principles, still serves as the backbone of mathematics. (Clue : He is from a city, which is not a part of Europe) >>Euclid
23. This song is considered to be the one hit wonders of all time. Brazilian Air Force used this song in its advertisement in the second half of the '80s, in the Brazilian TV network and was also played at the closing ceremony of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. Identify the song.>> The Final Countdown
24. The Tennis Championships at Worple Road, Wimbledon, London has been started since 1877. Who is the youngest-ever winner of Men’s singles title @ Wimbledon ? >> Boris Becker
25. Hollywood star _______, sued the owners of the Florida airport, where he’s looking to land his jumbo jet, claiming that the airport owners falsified their 2006 records to show that the landing field could not accommodate large planes. >> John Travolta
26. The following Internet domain extensions are assigned to countries that are from the same continent. Identify the countries for the following extensions. (Ex., *.cy – Cyprus)
    i. .ng : _______________________ >> Nigeria
    ii. .za : _______________________ >> South Africa
    iii. .zm : _______________________ >> Zambia
    iv. .zw : ________________________>> Zimbabwe
27. Ethanethiol which gives a pungent and repulsive odour, is added to natural gas (used as fuel), for easy identification of the fuel leakage and its disaster. This additive is popularly known as _______________ >> Marcaptans
28. People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), distributed ________, free of cost, to the people in city of HamBurg in USA, asking them to accept for changing their city’s name, during its campaign against cruelty to animals. >> Veggie Burger
29. Airbags deployed in cars, is a marvelous invention in the field of crash science & safety engineering. In cars its denoted as SRS Airbag, where SRS refers to _________. >> Supplementary Restraint System
30. The US Federal Government signed a law in July,2002 in response to the major scandals in corporate accounting. (Companies : Tyco, Enron etc.,) President George W. Bush signed it and stating it included “the most far-reaching reforms of American business practices, since the time of Franklin. D. Roosevelt”. This world famous US corporate law is named after its sponsors and is known to as ________. >> Sarbanes-Oxley Act or SOX
31. In 1892, two major electric companies, Edison General Electric Company and its business rival Thomson-Houston Electric company, merged to form the General Electric Company (GE). The merger was arranged by __________, a famous financier in US. >> J.P.Morgan
32. A five year, intercontinental project of study of human anthropology, worth US$40m is sponsored by the National Geographic Channel, IBM and Waitt family foundation. This is referred as “moon shot of anthropology”. The name of the project is _______. >> The Genographic Project
33. Which is the home country of third largest film industry in the world next to US (Hollywood) and India (Bollywood) ? >> Nigeria
34. In which country, it is illegal to chew gum, as it causes a uncontrollable public nuisance ? >> Singapore
35. After winning the World War II, United States fought a battle with Japan to re-capture this territory. (Clue : The motto of this territory is “Where America’s Day Begins”)
    i. What is the name of the territory ? ____________ Guam
    ii. what is the name of the battle ? ____________ Battle of Guam

Technorati Tags: quiz questions quiz contest general quiz quiz

The Best of the new seven wonders

Last week, the new 7 wonders of the world were announced to be the following monuments: Great Wall of China, Petra in Jordan, Christ Redeemer in Brazil, Machu Picchu in Peru, Chichen Itza in Mexico, The Colosseum in Italy and the Taj Mahal in India. According to the new 7 wonders website where these were declared:

All the New 7 Wonders are equal and are presented as a group without any ranking.

But, I am sure that everyone would be interested to know as to which the "best" wonder of the world is (from among the list above). This information has not been revealed, so lets try to decide ourselves. So, i have created a poll above with the list of the new seven wonders. Vote for whichever monument you think deserves to be called the "best" wonder of the world.

Technorati Tags: new seven wonders new 7 wonders of the world colosseum taj mahal chichen Itza Petra jordan great wall of china christ redeemer brazil machu picchu peru

Three puzzles to puzzle you

Time to take a break from going through all the blogging related (I assume they will all be so) entries for "Number Three" posting contest at Daily Blog tips.

Read also about the three lessons you can learn from Driving in India.

I have always been fascinated by puzzles based on logic rather than pure mathematics. How these puzzles are different from the usual mathematical ones is that at some point in time of solving the puzzle, you have to use your logical part of the brain and eliminate some answers and not just keep doing some calculations to reach the answer. Below are three such puzzles which are extremely interesting to solve (in my opinion). The answers are written in white just after the puzzle. So , to see the answer, highlight the empty area after the puzzle. Enjoy!

Puzzle 1:

A census-taker(CT) (one who counts the population) goes to a house and knocks on the door. A woman(W) opens the door. Given below is the conversation they have:

CT: Ma'am, how many children do you have ?

W: Three

CT: Can you please tell me their ages ?

W: I won't tell you their ages, but i can give you clues.

CT: wow, a puzzle! Ok, give me the clues.

W: Clue No 1: The product of my kid's ages is 36.

W: Clue No 2: The sum of their ages is equal to my door number.

CT looks at the door number, thinks for a while and says "i need more clues".

W: Okay, one more clue. My eldest plays baseball.

CT: Thank you Ma'am. I know their ages now.

Now, all you have to do is to find their ages with the above information.

Solution:

The woman has three children. The product of their ages is 36.

First, write down the possible combinations. They are 36/1/1, 18/2/1, 9/2/2, 9/4/1, 6/6/1, 6/3/2 and 4/3/3. Now, try to do what CT would have done i.e. take the totals of the ages which respectively are 38, 21, 13, 14, 13, 11 and 10.

The CT knew the door number (he can see it). If one of the totals matched the door number, he would have solved the puzzle. But, he asked for more clues. That means that the door number appeared as the total of more than one combination, which in our case is 9/2/2 and 6/6/1 whose total is 13.

The next clue was "My eldest plays baseball". This clue may seem weird, but it is actually a very intelligent clue. When the woman refers to "my eldest", it means that her eldest kid is unique which is not the case with the twins of 6/6/1. So, the answer is 9/2/2.

Puzzle 2:

There are 37 students in a classroom. What is the probability that at least 4 of them would have their birthday in the same month? Though this looks like a mathematical question, it is actually to be solved logically.

Solution:
Assume the worst case of the students' birthdays being split right across all the months. If there were 36 students in the class, then 3 of them would have their birthdays in each month(36/12 months = 3 in each month). If a 37th student appears, this his/her birthday could be in any of the 12 months. What that means is that, for sure he would be at least the 4th person to have a birthday in any month. So, the probability is 1 (one) i.e. surely in a class of 37 students, at least 4 would have their birthday in the same month.

Puzzle 3:

Form a meaningful sentence starting with “the” from the grid below. The only condition is that a move from one word to another can only be like a knight/horse used in Chess. i.e. a ‘L’ shaped move.

e.g. if you are on “solve” (1st row, 2nd column), the next word can be either “this” (3rd row, 3rd column) or “to” (3rd row, 1st column) or “only” (2nd row, 4th column)

Solution:

The only way to solve this puzzle is to move like the horse that moves around on a chess board.

Hope you enjoyed the puzzles. If you liked them , you can check out more puzzles from the Logic Puzzle quiz which i conducted some time back.

Technorati Tags: puzzle logic quiz logic puzzle blog tips

More Quizzing Sites and Quiz Blogs

I have done an update to the list of Quizzing blogs and sites that i maintain. There has been a recent increase in the number of blogs dedicated to quizzing and they definitely needed a mention in this list. Also, i chanced upon some very good sites with thousands of questions from Pub quizzes and the Jeopardy Quiz show. So, if you are even remotely interested in quizzing, you should give these sites a look. Go ahead, increase your knowledge by visiting the sites on the quizzing sites and blogs list.

Cricket Quiz to win Indian Team tshirts and caps

Here in Amdocs, we have a Social Club where they have arranged for screening all the world cup matches on Big Screen using a projector. To inaugurate the world cup, we had a small cricket quiz on tuesday just before the west indies - pakistan match. Also, we had got Indian Team tshirts and caps to be given away as prizes. This was not a regular quiz for the regular quizzers. This was a quiz for the masses, just an excuse to give them tshirts and caps! The questions, almost all of the them very easy, are given below. I shall update this post with the answers a week later. Until then, if you are interested, leave the answers in the comments.

• What does ICC stand for ?
• The term 'a pair'—where a batsman is out for nought has it's origin in an object that resembles two zeros placed side by side. Which object ?
• Who inaugurated this year's world cup ?
• After how many overs can a new ball be taken?
• This quote of Ian Botham led to one of the many disciplinary actions against him: "Everyone should send their mothers-in-law to ___________"
• Shahid Afridi holds the record for the fastest one day hundred (37 balls). Who has hit the second fastest(44 balls) ?
• What are the names of Sachin Tendulkar's kids ?
• When was the only time cricket was played in the olympics?
• When is the world cup final going to be held ?
• Which cricketer has sung along with Asha Bhosle in the album "Asha & Friends" ?
• This is the full name of a cricketer. Identify the blanksSahibzada Mohammad ____ Khan ____
• Who had scores of 0,0,1,0,0,0 in his first three test matches and a 0 in his first one-dayer?
• What is Don Bradman's Test average ?
• Which fielding position is most likely to field a French cut?
• KS Ranjitsinhji, K S Duleepsinhji and Ajaysinhji Daulatsinhji all came from the royal family of Nawanagar, now known as Jamnagar. Who was the last member from this pedigree to have represented India ?
• What was burnt to create the Ashes?
• 'Z’ is the autobiography of which former test cricket captain?
• what is the position right behind the wicketkeeper called ?
• To which country does the cricketer Anthony Ireland belong to ?
• What would happen if a player fielded the ball with his cap?
• Which cricketer's middle name is Chandidas?
• In world Cup 1975, East Africa was one of the teams. Which are the countries which formed a part of East Africa?
• What is the common terminology used for running out the batsman when he is backing up at the non-strikers end?
• The West Indian Batsman George Headley was nicknamed“The Black ______”
• In the interval of a New Zealand - England day-night ODI at Wellingtonin 2002, the director of a movie stood on the pitch with a microphone and persuaded the crowd to make howling, growling and grunting noises for use in battle scenes in his film _____________. Which Film ?
• In which city was the world's first ever indoor one-day international cricket match played?
• Gary Sobers is regarded as one of the best all-rounders in test cricket. He played only one ODI. How uch did he score ?
• Wife of this cricketer phoned him during a test match. It was told to her that he had just gone inside the field to bat. The wife told that she would prefer to hold because he never survives more than a few balls. Who is this cricketer ?
• To which country does the cricketer Jeetan Patel belong to ?
• Who is “Masaba” and how is she related to Bollywood and West Indian cricket?
• Who is the only man to play in both his country’s first and the 100th test match?
• What is shane warne's middle name?
• The BCCI logo is derived from the emblem of India’s highest order of chivalry (during the days of the British Raj) founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. What was the order called ?
• To which country does the cricketer Qaiser Ali belong to?
• What is the contribution of Paul Hawkins to the world of cricket?
• Who was the first cricketer to be given out by a third umpire ?
• “It involves the deliberate and systematic targeting of the opposing team's captain, in the hope that if the captain is given out or rendered ineffective, it would lead to diminished respect for the captain's authority and the rest of their team losing morale and the will to win”. What is the specific term for this strategy?
• Who is the captain of the England World Cup team?
• To which country does the cricketer Saleem Mukuddem belong to?
• In Australia, what are referred to as "sundries" ?
• Who said to whom "Mate ! You have just dropped the world cup " ?
• In cricket, what is meant by the phrase "bowling a maiden over"?
• In the match between India and Pakistan at Jaipur on 02-10-1983, Which new rule was introduced?
• The nickname of Glenn McGrath is what?
• How many runs did Sir Donald Bradman need in his last innings to finish with a Test average of 100?
• What is the first innings lead required to ask the opposition to follow-on in a Test match?

Technorati Tags: cricket world cup cricket cricket quiz world cup quiz Indian team tshirt cap

The January 100 Rupee Quiz Answers

Finally, i got time to evaluate all the replies sent in for the January 100 Rupee Quiz. I was busy in the organization of a treasure hunt here at amdocs, the questions of which shall be uploaded very soon. This quiz got the most number of replies so far, a total of 39 people attempted this quiz. The winner of this by a very narrow margin is Sumant Sankaran with 28 points. Manan Singhi came second with 27 points. Congrats to Sumant for winning a 100 Rupee Fabmart Voucher. Sumant, you shall receive your voucher within the next two weeks.

The answers of the January 100 Rupee quiz can be seen here. The scores of the other quizzers who attempted the quiz are given below.

Sumant Sankaran:28 Manan Singhi:27 Abhishek R:26.5 vinesh kumar:25 Shreyas Subramaniam:24 Uma:22 Uttara Ananthakrishnan:22 sai ganesh:22 Arun Sivanandan:21 Rajesh Chandran:21 Anshuman/Vinayak:21 Prasanth Suresh:21 you know who:21 C.Sridhar:20.5 neha katyal:20 Venkatesh S:20 abhinav mouli:19 sudha nandhini:19 Parithi:18.5 Tejas C:18 Rajiv D'Silva:18 Shishir Shashidhar Kedlaya:17.5 uday kumar:17.5 Varun Reddy:17.5 Prasoon Ranjan:17 Srinath Sripadaraman:17 Rajimuth:16.5 anu bhav:15.5 Soumyadri Chattopadhyaya:15.5 Arnab Bhattacharya:15 Shyam Naren:13.5 Shantanu Gangal:13 karthik bharadwaj:13 Karthikeyan G:9 aniruddha biswas:8 Ajith Prasad B:7 ALEX FRANCIS K:7 anubhav chatterjee:5.5 paul teresa:5.5

Technorati Tags: 100+Rupee+quiz Quiz Monthly+quiz

Bringing Quiz Archives back to life

Back in the early 2000s, there used to be hundreds of small dot-coms vying with each other for space on the internet. Many of them lured people with events and competitions with big prizes. One of the them was ticklewit.com, which had a daily event comprising of a quiz, a puzzle and a crossword. The quizzes were pretty decent, mastermind style, mostly comprising of one-word answers. When i was working in Tektronix, a group of us were regular "ticklewitters", maintaining a steady side-income through this site.

Ticklewit gave its prizes in the form of fabmart gift vouchers and thanks to it, i am a gold member at fabmart. I used to order all kinds of crazy things from fabmart, just because i had lot of vouchers with me, even to the extent of ordering "one tropicana juice" with the delivery time set at 7 AM, so that it could be used as a wake-up call for us!

As with scores of dot-coms, ticklewit started going down in 2001. First, they reduced the quantum of prizes and one fine day, all the prizes were gone and so was the site. But, I had diligently collected the answers of all the daily quizzes and have now uploaded them on a separate page.

So, here you have, hundreds of mastermind type questions on the ticklewit quiz page. I have also uploaded more than 1500 questions from other sites which were offering regular quizzes, but are now offline. Check the other pages:

Business Quiz Sports Quiz Movies Quiz Music Quiz General Quiz(1) General Quiz(2) General Quiz(3) General Quiz(4) General Quiz(5) General Quiz(6) General Quiz(7) General Quiz(8) General Quiz(9) General Quiz(10) General Quiz(11) General Quiz(12)

Technorati Tags: quiz quizzing quiz archives ticklewit fabmart

Quizzing Blogs and Quiz Sites

I have updated the list of Quizzing Blogs and Quiz sites including some new quiz blogs which have turned up over the past few months. The list is quite exhaustive now, but is ever growing! If you want to add you quiz related blog or website, just drop in an email.

The November 100 Rupee Quiz

The November 100 Rupee Quiz has been uploaded. The last date until which this quiz can be attempted is December 20th. There are 35 questions to be attempted and 100 Rupees to be won. All the questions and answers of the previous editions can be found at the 100 Rupee Quiz Archive page.

If you are interested in other quizzing links, including links to various quiz blogs, visit my quiz page.

The October 100 Rupee Quiz

The October edition of the 100 Rupee Quiz has been uploaded. I planned to release this on October 2nd, but due to some work constraints, it got delayed by a day. 35 Questions to be cracked and 100 Rupees to be won.
Enjoy the Quiz here.

You can also check the answers of the September edition of the quiz.

Technorati Tags: quiz 100+Rupee+Quiz October+Quiz

100 Rupee Quiz Results

The first edition of the 100 Rupee Quiz is over. The answers can be found here. If you still want to see only the questions, go to the original 100 Rupee Quiz page.

The Scores (In random order)

Anusheel Shrivastava - 20.5
Sameer Nafey - 32.5
Pranav Shetty - 23
Shishir Shashidhar Kedlaya - 30.5
Aniruddha.Biswas - 17
brijesh nair - 25
ingit tibrewal - 28.5
Vineet - 3.5 (attempted only 4 questions)
rajesh mohan - 28
Prasoon Ranjan - 24
Ramachandran V - 5 ( attempted only 6 )
Murali Duggineni - 36
Sandeep Mathias - 17.5
Karthik Narayan - 22
Anirvan Bhadra - 33.5
Manikandan Kumarappan - 36
Harish Shanthinikethanam - 37
biju james - 16
Akhtar Ali - 30
mitrashankar biswas - 33
K T R - 28.5
rohit agrawal - 30
Rajiv D'Silva - 29

The winner of the 100 Rupee voucher is Harish Shanthinikethanam. Coming "a very close" second are Manikandan Kumarappan and Murali Duggineni with 36 points. I had to recheck their scores 3 times to ensure that i got the total right!
Thanks to all the 23 people who attempted the quiz. Hope you enjoyed it.
The next edition of this quiz will be on October 2nd.

Technorati Tags: quiz , 100+Rupee+Quiz

Filed Under: Quiz

What happened to zatang.com ?

More than 6 years ago, zatang.com was a popular website, having many sections catering to various hobbies/activities like quizzing, trekking, cooking, movies and even on religion. The sections were authored not by zatang staff, but by anyone who was interested. The owner of a section was called ZZar.

What lured me to become a zzar was the prospect of getting a zatang.com T-shirt. Those days, my only job was to play contests, quizzes, whatever on the internet to get a gift or a prize. Zatang.com offered a cool t-shirt to anyone who became a zzar and owned a section. Fresh from college, the only real hobby i had was solving the hindu crossword. So, i mailed to them saying that i would start a crossword section. Within a week , my request was approved and i had my own place on the internet. I was thrilled !

I wrote few pages on crossword solving by including lot of examples from past Hindu crosswords and also some of the ones which i had seen in crossword competitions in college. Shown on the left is the photo which was included on my page. Well, the copy-paste work from the passport-sized photo which i had submitted wasn't too bad, except that i would have sent a better photo , if i had known that they would be doing this!

After i started my Hindu Crossword Blog (not regular in updating it now, because I have been busy in extra-curricular activities at work!), i wanted to include these tips and tricks also in my pages. But, zatang.com was not to be seen. The latest that i could remember seeing zatang.com was in early 2005, when they had revamped the site. Then i started searching for zatang on google, hoping that i could find some news on it somewhere.

Then, during one of the searches, i chanced upon the internet archive. I had used this long ago for searching puzzles from defunct websites for The Hunt. I didn't realise that this site could prove so useful in my search. I was able to recover all the content i had written for zatang, way back in the year 2000 !

So, here they are, the tips and tricks for solving the hindu crossword or for that matter, any cryptic crossword.

New Quizzing Section

I am poor at managing favourites on my Internet Explorer, so i decided to put all the links online. I have started a new quiz section, where i shall post links to quiz blogs and popular quizzing sites. I shall also update these pages with the quizzes i post on quizzing groups and also the ones i conduct at my workplace. If you got a worthwhile link, drop in a mail to me and i shall add it. The quiz page is here.

The 100 Rupee Quiz

After many hiccups because of the site servers being down , i have managed to release this quiz, as planned, on 15th August. I usually send quizzes through mail to quizzing groups like quiznet, qfi, quinkie, quizkrieg, greycells and few others. This time, i have taken a different approach and hosted it on my site and more than that, there is a also a prize for the topper. The prize is a hundred rupee gift voucher from Fabmall. Ya, it is not much, but a hundred rupees is a good enough sum to get some decent stuff at Fabmall. I plan to release a new quiz every month, hopefully.

There are 60 questions in the quiz. This quiz will be open until September 15th. It contains a mix of directs, connect questions and visuals and covers current affairs, sports, business, trivia and of course, the standard quizzing fillers. More details about the quiz on the quiz page. Enjoy the 100 Rupee Quiz and all the best.

The Second Google Earth Quiz

The landmarks below are as seen through Google Earth. The questions for the individual pictures are alongside the pictures. This was posted on Quiznet, Qfi and few other quizzing groups, but the pictures are posted here to avoid huge email size. Click on the images to open a bigger picture. Scroll down for the answers.

1) Identify this beach. Zoom into the pic for clues

2) Identify the city in which this airport is located. If you look at the current picture of this airport, it might look totally different.

3) Identify this landmark.

4) Identify the city in which this street is.

5) Identify this stadium.

6) Identify this landmark.

7) Identify this bridge.

8) Identify this landmark.

9) What is this a part of ?

10) What was here before ?.

The answers. Highlight between the words ANS for the answer.

1) Identify this beach. Zoom into the pic for clues.
ANSAlang Beach, Gujarat, India. This is the famous ship breaking area , where ships are broken down and sold as scrap.ANS

2) Identify the city in which this airport is located. If you look at the current picture of this airport, it might look totally different.
ANSCould be identified from the context of the question. Beirut Airport, LebanonANS

3) Identify this landmark.
ANSBurj-Al-Arab, Dubai. The 7-star hotel in the shape of a ship's mastANS

4) Identify the city in which this street is.
ANSSan Francisco. This is called the crooked street and supposedly the crookedest street in the world. Driving on this street is easy, but the approach is tough.
This road goes down from the top of a hill and the approach road up is very steep and often congested because of tourist traffic and u have to be a better-than-average driver to leave a traffic signal smoothly when your car is on a steep slope!ANS

5) Identify this stadium
ANSEden Gardens, CalcuttaANS

6) Identify this landmark.
ANSGateway of India, MumbaiANS

7) Identify this bridge
ANSHoogly Bridge, Calcutta. The colour of the river is the same in questions 5 and 7 :-)ANS

8) Identify this landmark.
ANSStatue of LibertyANS

9) What is this a part of ?
ANSPalm Jumeirah, Dubai. Palm tree shaped island resortsANS

10) What was here before ?
ANSWorld Trade CenterANS

Thanks to all those who attempted the quiz.

The Google Earth Quiz

All you have to do is to identify the landmarks shown below, as seen through Google Earth. This was posted on Quiznet, Qfi and few other quizzing groups, but the pictures are posted here to avoid huge email size. Click on the images to open a bigger picture.

1)
2)

3)

4)

5)
6)

7)

11) There is something different/unique about the t-shirt the girl is wearing. What ?

Answers:

1) Arc De triumph, Paris

2) Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

3) Niagra Falls

4) Parliament Building , Delhi

5) Petronas Tower (Can be identified easily from the shadow)

6) Opera House, Sydney

7) Taj Mahal

11) The Tshirt spells Love when viewed in a mirror.

Thanks to all those who attempted the quiz.

Two general quizzes

Recently, I had posted two quizzes on some quizzing groups like quiznet, qfi, quizkreig, ibq and greycells. Below are the questions and answers from them. The answers can be found out by hovering the mouse over the "Ans" at the end.

• If you logged on to circuitcity, bestbuy, frys, compusa ..you would see the acronym MIR being used ..what does it stand for ? Ans
• If you were eating a 'musa sapientum' which fruit would you be eating? Clue: A "Musa Sapientum" has also appeared on the cover of a Penthouse magazine. Ans
• _____ is a Hebrew word which means "tradition". It is derived from the root word qibel, meaning "to receive". This refers to the ancient custom of handing down knowledge orally from generation to generation. Ans
• Every single match ball used at EURO 2004 was inscribed with the name of the teams, the date, the name of the stadium and something very specific to the stadium. What ? Ans
• The drug MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) is a synthetic drug with both psychedelic and stimulant effects. It was first developed in 1912 as an appetite suppressant by the German pharmaceutical company Merck. It comes as a tablet, capsule or in powder form and is usually taken orally. This is one of the most popular illegal drugs available. What is it ? Ans
• What are these statements part of
  "If your balls be found anywhere touching one another you are to lift the first ball till you play the last."
  "The weight of the ball must not be greater than 1.62oz., and the size not less than 1.68 inches in diameter"
  "He who whose ball lies farthest from the hole is obliged to play first". Ans
• Which famous phrase (clue: linked to creativity) originated from a puzzle where one has to connect 9 dots arranged in a square grid with 4 straight lines drawn continuously, without your pen leaving the paper? Ans
• What do the two olive branches on the flag of Cyprus represent? Ans
• The Architecture of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Dubai is unique in a way, i.e the structure/layout of the building represents something. What ? Ans
• Irene Esther from Venezuela came third, Basetsana Julia from South Africa came second. Who was the first? Ans
• If it happens, who will be the youngest ever to undergo a Dope Test (related to Athletics) ? Ans
• In Dubai, a new residential city is being planned. It consists of 32 blocks painted in white and 32 painted in black. What is the name of the city ? Ans
• In Dubai, an underwater hotel is being constructed. What is its planned name ? Ans
• What is the claim to fame of the line below (along with many other dialogues)
  "Bridget is my age and lives across the street. For the first twelve years of my life, these qualifications were all I needed in a best friend. But that was before Bridget's braces came off and her boyfriend Burke got on, before Hope and I met in our seventh grade Honors classes" Ans
  

Brains of Amdocs Quiz 2006

The BOA 2006 Quiz happened last Friday. It was conducted by phenoMenon a.k.a VijayAnand Menon, the winner of the last year's edition.

The quiz had a teaser section (A flash attachement) which had 8 connected questions and the theme had to be identified. The written prelims had a total of 29 questions. The topper of the prelims had a score of 34 out of a maximum 44 and the sixth team to qualify made 30. We made 28.5, close ..We missed out on all the visual questions, where we had to identify six personalities.

Below is a sample from the prelims.The answers can be found out by hovering the mouse over the "Ans" at the end.

• Named after the Hawaiian word for 'quick', it is a type of website which allows users to easily add and edit content. Name this technology. Ans
• It was designed by Howard Garns, a retired architect and first published in 1979. The name by which it is now popular, a Japanese abbreviation of a longer phrase, "suji wa dokushin ni kagiru," meaning "the digits must remain single", is a trademark of Nikoli Co. Ltd in Japan . Name this now very popular pastime.Ans
• "America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow" by Eugene Cernan were the last words. What were the first and who spoke them? Ans
• What was the mission entrusted to Captain John Miller, Company Commander of 2nd Ranger Battalion, Company C of the US army on June 9th, 1944 in Normandy? Ans
• What is aibohphobia the fear of? Ans
• Why did the book "Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower" by William Blum shoot into the limelight very recently? Ans

BOA 2006

This is the poster I created for the publicity of BOA Quiz (Brains of Amdocs). The second version is to be held this Friday. I based the title of this quiz on BOB (Brain of BITS), probably the most famous quiz in BITS, Pilani