c4countdown

Posted: **Mon Dec 19, 2011 11:03 pm**

Every year the Royal Statistical Society has a Christmas Quiz in its newsletter. It's pretty difficult, and has some fairly obvious Round Britain Quiz inspiration. It's only open to RSS members, but I have no intention of entering (and it's publicly available anyway) so figured I'd share it here since it's probably up the street of a number of forumites. It's the sort of thing where some joint work may be fun, so feel free to share suggestions or partial solutions. I'll probably share what little I've managed myself once people have had a bit of time to look at it themselves.

Here it is!

Posted: **Mon Dec 19, 2011 11:24 pm**

OK I done a little bit of work on this now and I've bolded everything that I think I am missing:

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS***

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1a) William Pitt the Younger: I could eat one of Bellamy's veal pies.
1b) Harold Wilson: All the little gnomes in Zurich.
1c) Benjamin Disrael: I never deny, I never contradict. I sometimes forget.
1d) Margaret Thatcher: We have become a grandmother.

I have no idea what kind of code is going on with what lettes are selected. But A's, E's and T's seem popular in them all.

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2a) Sugar PLUM fairy, Herbie Goes BANANAS, James and the Giant PEACH, don't know what Eugene is, and Beatles may be them signing with APPLE records so they prove Jeanette Winterson right because she wrote a novel called Oranges are Not the Only Fruit.

2b) The fairy comes from the NUTCRACKER, jazz pianist anyone?, however not singer MA? but KC is Kid Creole's backing band the COCONUTS and CS is Charles Schulz creation which is PEANUTS. So there's something there to do with nuts. Dunno what the JL part is or the EM part either. John Lennon?

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3) The culprit is Green as this is the first time that Holmes enters the room whilst Wellington is sleeping and Watson is instigating. If the investigation, say, started at 6am then it is at 12.15pm that Holmes walks into Green's room. (At 11.30am Holmes does walk into Scarlett's room whilst Watson is there and Wellington but Wellington is also meant to be switching at this point and so wouldn't be asleep. This means that Wellington would move onto Peacock, Watson stay where he is (for another 10 minutes) and Holmes must skip on and go to White.)

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4) Not much of a clue for this one. Innocent Eyes is an album by DELTA Goodrem and the title of the question is Greek Apparitions so wondered i this was relevant in someway? Past this I can't see much. Tim Urban I thought about Pope Urban and Rex means King in Latin so could be something to do with leaders too? Then I thought about Rabbits because of John Updike but that again is were I stopped.

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5) Scotsman Adam is Adam Smith (back of a £20 note) which equals American Andrew Jackson (back of a $20 US note). Canadian John MacDonald is on the Canadian $10 note which is two times New Zealander Edmund Hillary (as he is on the New Zealand $5 note). So who is equal to Englishman Charles Dickens (who appears on the £10 note)...well it's Australian man Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson. The title 'Ulysses and the Lion' refers to Ulysses S. Grant who is on the American $50 bill.

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6) NO IDEA

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7) NO IDEA. I don't even understand what I'm meant to do? Are they like cryptic crossword clues or something?

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8a) They are all films with Charlton Heston in and all have numbers in them. So the sequence is: The Ten Commandments, Three Violent People, 55 Days at Peking*, Number One, The Three Musketeers, Airport 1975, The Four Musketeers, Two Minute Warning, Wayne's World 2, My Father Rua Alguem 5555 which means that the actual missing gaps would be: 55DAP, A1975.

*Five Cities of June also done in between these other numbers films but apparently he was the narrator.

8b) Tom Lehrer's Elements Song: There's Antimony (51), Arsenic (33), Aluminum (13), Selenium (34) and Hydrogen (1) and Oxygen (8) and...Tungsten (74), Tin (50) and Sodium (11). These...are the only one's of which the news has come to Haarrrrrrvard and there may be many others but they haven't been discaaarrrrvered!

8c) Agatha Christie novels: The Big Four, The Seven Dials Mystery, The Thirteen Problems, Three Act Tragedy, Ten Little Niggers, One Two Buckle My Show, Five Little Pigs, Towards Zero and so completing this would be 4.50 from Paddington,

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9a) One word songs from stage musicals: Fate - Kismet, Married - Cabaret, Memory - Cats, Popular - Wicked, Tomorrow - Annie

9b) Months of the year abbreviations at start: Marylebone - 3, Juliet - 7, Mayfair - 5, Separate - 9, Janet - 1

9c) Each pair born and died in the same year: George Eliot - Joshua Norton (1819-1880), HW Longfellow - Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882), Sean O'Casey - Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964), Ivan Turgenev - Karl Marx (1818-1883), Virginia Woolf - James Joyce (1882-1941)

9d) Clearly something to do with tennis but what it is I don't know. I thought about opponents in their first Grand Slam finals or maybe if they were doubles partners or just people who'd been beaten by the other the most times. Doesn't seem to work. But in the prelude to the question it says that these are the "only 5 eligible pairs" so it must be very precise. I could have a go at matching them up from like era so you'd have: Capriati-Henin, Court-Bueno, Emerson-Newcombe, Navratilova-Evert, Williams-Williams. Like I say though, probably not right.

9e) Animals on flag/emblem: Cow - Andorra, Crane - Uganda, Lion - Spain, Snake - Mexico so the missing one is the Vicuna - Peru.

Posted: **Tue Dec 20, 2011 9:29 am**

Wow. I was feeling pretty pleased with myself because I'd got 8b and 9a.

Posted: **Tue Dec 20, 2011 12:18 pm**

Cheers for posting this - it's a great quiz. I've got a couple that we're missing.

6) When written as words, the number of letters in each number increases by one each time, i.e. Ten (3), Nine (4)...Ninety-six (9). This works for both sequences.

7) The phrases are mnemonics for the first notes in national anthems.

a) G,E,C,E,G,C is Star Spangled Banner (USA)

The others don't seem to be obvious ones, so anyone who has a piano and a knowledge of national anthems can probably help here!

Also in 2b), CC is Cyrus Chestnut (I love that name) and MA is Marc Almond. Presumably the link is to do with the fact that Almonds, Peanuts and Coconuts are not "true" nuts, but can't crack it at the moment.

Oh, and 2a) 1967 is STRAWBERRY Fields Forever, not Apple

Posted: **Tue Dec 20, 2011 12:44 pm**

Bob De Caux wrote:7) The phrases are mnemonics for the first notes in national anthems.

a) G,E,C,E,G,C is Star Spangled Banner (USA)

The others don't seem to be obvious ones, so anyone who has a piano and a knowledge of national anthems can probably help here!

Oh, excellent - well spotted. Armed with that knowledge, b) is Land of My Fathers i.e. Wales and d) is Land of Hope and Glory i.e. England (so the link isn't strictly national anthems but tunes associated with particular countries). Can't quite place c) at the moment.

Posted: **Tue Dec 20, 2011 1:19 pm**

Nice one Phil, guess "evoking" widens the net a bit

Posted: **Tue Dec 20, 2011 1:45 pm**

A mate of mine has got 4), although Ryan was pretty much there. I was expecting it to be more complicated.

They all contain greek letters in their names. The three examples are DELTA Goodram, Catherine ZETA-jones and PHIliP SIdney (two letters). The other all contain greek letters straddling names.

J EdgaR HOover, JohN Updike, rALPH Anderson, GiuseppE TArtini, AlessIO TAcchinardi, ReX Ingram, TiM Urban

Posted: **Tue Dec 20, 2011 2:12 pm**

Cracked the code for 1)

Answer for the Macmillan quote is:

ar aan: 'eve ha it so ood'

Clue is alphanumeric extremes

Posted: **Tue Dec 20, 2011 2:14 pm**

Bob De Caux wrote:Cheers for posting this - it's a great quiz. I've got a couple that we're missing.

6) When written as words, the number of letters in each number increases by one each time, i.e. Ten (3), Nine (4)...Ninety-six (9). This works for both sequences.

7) The phrases are mnemonics for the first notes in national anthems.

a) G,E,C,E,G,C is Star Spangled Banner (USA)

This is just excellent Bob! Would never get near that in a million years!

Bob De Caux wrote:A mate of mine has got 4), although Ryan was pretty much there. I was expecting it to be more complicated.

They all contain greek letters in their names. The three examples are DELTA Goodram, Catherine ZETA-jones and PHIliP SIdney (two letters). The other all contain greek letters straddling names.

J EdgaR HOover, JohN Updike, rALPH Anderson, GiuseppE TArtini, AlessIO TAcchinardi, ReX Ingram, TiM Urban

Can't believe I didn't get this one though! Ha! I had Philip Sidney but didn't even think about the PHI at the start! It was getting on for 4am though when I stopped looking at the quiz so I'm blaming it on tiredness. Again though, very nice!

Does anybody want to check my solution to number 3? I'm not very good at stuf like this and the only way I could think of doing it was by going through the whole thing very slowly and drawing diagrams of were people would be and at what times etc. I've got the Excel worksheet I used to write the stuff down on and I've uploaded it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?02t58bxjh8q3qub

Posted: **Tue Dec 20, 2011 2:17 pm**

Finally got the connection for 2b!

JL (1963) is Jerry Lewis, EM (1996) is Eddie Murphy, both of whom played the Nutty Professor!

Ryan, I got the same as you for Number 3, although not the same times. Will have a nother check

Posted: **Tue Dec 20, 2011 2:21 pm**

Bob De Caux wrote:Finally got the connection for 2b!

JL (1963) is Jerry Lewis, EM (1996) is Eddie Murphy, both of whom played the Nutty Professor!

Haha love it!

Michael you will surely be sending these solutions in I hope?

Posted: **Tue Dec 20, 2011 2:42 pm**

Bob De Caux wrote:Cracked the code for 1)

Answer for the Macmillan quote is:

ar aan: 'eve ha it so ood'

Clue is alphanumeric extremes

Ah, cool. So within each word you find the letters that are nearest the beginning and end of the alphabet, and then omit any other letters in that word that lie in between.

Posted: **Tue Dec 20, 2011 3:01 pm**

Yep, that's right Phil. A simple but very effective code, I think.

Posted: **Tue Dec 20, 2011 4:35 pm**

Wow, insanely quick work, really impressed. My first proper read of the thread since I started it and already almost everything has been solved.

My only contribution to that lot is that I think 7 (c) must be Russia, the opening notes to which I am overly familiar with thanks to Call of Duty. Who says video games are a waste of time?

I haven't thought to much about 3 yet, since when I first saw it I thought "well I can just write a program to solve that", but given previous years, I would imagine (or at least hope) there is a neater solution.

So what hasn't been cracked yet? Just 9 (d)?

Ryan - I wasn't intending on entering, no, since it seems a little against the spirit of things to crowdsource a quiz forum. (I was a little unsure about posting it at all, in case some random RSS member comes along and finds this thread, hoovers up all the answers and goes off to enter whilst cackling maniacally.)

Posted: **Tue Dec 20, 2011 4:43 pm**

Michael Wallace wrote: So what hasn't been cracked yet? Just 9 (d)?

Yeah. And also I think we still need the fruity Eugene in part 2a).

Michael Wallace wrote: Ryan - I wasn't intending on entering, no, since it seems a little against the spirit of things to crowdsource a quiz forum. (I was a little unsure about posting it at all, in case some random RSS member comes along and finds this thread, hoovers up all the answers and goes off to enter whilst cackling maniacally.)

You should send it in as you could win the £50 of Amazon stuff. Don't see why not. And once you've sent it in complete we can delete this whole thread and pretend it never happened.

Posted: **Tue Dec 20, 2011 4:55 pm**

Yep, fruity Eugene and the tennis to go. I found 3 pretty unsatisfactory and out of keeping with the rest of the quiz, so sure there is a neat trick.

Nice spot on Russia by the way

Posted: **Tue Dec 20, 2011 6:05 pm**

I've suddenly been handed a moral dilemma by reading this thread, and being a member of the RSS who'd only got about half of the quiz done so far. Think I'll have to enter anyway, will work out some sort of redress if a win is forthcoming!

Posted: **Tue Dec 20, 2011 9:49 pm**

Beer next time I'm in Edinburgh, Mr V. Cheers! Will be interested to know how you get on

Posted: **Tue Dec 20, 2011 11:41 pm**

Impressive stuff.
9d is the pairs of tennis players who have shared the singles grand slams 2 each in a year. 1964 Court/Bueno, 1967 Emerson/Newcombe, 1982 Evert/Navratilova, 2001 Capriati/Venus, 2003 Henin/Serena

Posted: **Wed Dec 21, 2011 12:23 am**

Matthew Tassier wrote:Impressive stuff.
9d is the pairs of tennis players who have shared the singles grand slams 2 each in a year. 1964 Court/Bueno, 1967 Emerson/Newcombe, 1982 Evert/Navratilova, 2001 Capriati/Venus, 2003 Henin/Serena

Awesome work!

Now who's this fucking Eugene?

Posted: **Wed Dec 21, 2011 7:50 pm**

Ryan Taylor wrote:
Now who's this fucking Eugene?

Gene RodenBERRY? (b. 1921) Bit of a stretch, I know. More probably some connection to Gene Tunney, who was world Heavyweight champion in the 1920's, but his Christian name was James Joseph, not Eugene.

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 2:17 pm**

Ian Volante wrote:I've suddenly been handed a moral dilemma by reading this thread, and being a member of the RSS who'd only got about half of the quiz done so far. Think I'll have to enter anyway, will work out some sort of redress if a win is forthcoming!

This is why no-one trusts statistics

Posted: **Thu Dec 22, 2011 2:41 pm**

Michael Wallace wrote:no-one trusts statistics

Try saying that aloud.

Posted: **Fri Dec 23, 2011 12:36 am**

"THAT ALOUD".

Maybe I could enter as the Countdowners team - a team often seems to win. Then I can pay you all in kind later.

Posted: **Wed Jan 25, 2012 5:09 pm**

Not sure we need them, but here are the answers.

Posted: **Wed Jan 25, 2012 5:55 pm**

Michael Wallace wrote:Not sure we need them, but here are the answers.

Literally just last night I was thinking about posting in here for these. But I'd shut down my laptop. We are linked mentally. (That's definitely a bad thing for you.)

Posted: **Wed Jan 25, 2012 5:58 pm**

I forgot to enter :/

Posted: **Wed Jan 25, 2012 6:52 pm**

Michael Wallace wrote:Not sure we need them

Weren't you bothered about finding out who Eugene was?

Posted: **Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:05 pm**

Phil Reynolds wrote:
Michael Wallace wrote:Not sure we need them
Weren't you bothered about finding out who Eugene was?

Oh, didn't realise we hadn't been comprehensive (I wasn't paying all that much attention, admittedly).

Posted: **Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:10 pm**

Ian Volante wrote:I forgot to enter :/

That's what she said.

Posted: **Wed Jan 25, 2012 10:34 pm**

Matt Morrison wrote:
Ian Volante wrote:I forgot to enter :/
That's what she said.

Arf arf

Posted: **Mon Jan 07, 2013 3:13 pm**

Anyone looked at this year's? I'm stumped by questions 5, 7 and 8.

http://www.rssenews.org.uk/2012/11/chri ... ame|61-460

Posted: **Mon Jan 07, 2013 4:36 pm**

Ian Volante wrote:Anyone looked at this year's? I'm stumped by questions 5, 7 and 8.

http://www.rssenews.org.uk/2012/11/chri ... ame|61-460

I've managed to get 8b, but not a clue for the others.

actors and their characters from 2011 movies: Glenn Close=Albert Nobbs, Meryl Streep=Margaret Thatcher, Michelle Williams=Marilyn Monroe, Rooney Mara=Lisbeth Salander and Viola Davis=Aibileen from The Help so the missing one is Aibileen. (maybe more specifically roles they were Oscar nominated for?)

Posted: **Mon Jan 07, 2013 6:23 pm**

Spoilers for Question 7:

If you write out those letters in order in a 10x10 grid and then read down the columns from left to right you get this:

So that is:

"About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot of news with many cheerful facts about the square on the hypotenuse" sung by (Major-General) Stanley in the 'Major-General 's Song' ("I am the very model of a modern Major-General...") in The Pirates of Penzance.

May be a slight error from the Royal Statistical Society as "square on the hypotenuse" should read "square of the hypotenuse".

Posted: **Mon Jan 07, 2013 6:42 pm**

Caramba, I'd never have got that. I was looking through Rihanna and Madonna songs with I'm in the lyrics...

Posted: **Mon Jan 07, 2013 9:47 pm**

Ah excellent - only just seen this, but thought I would start on the ones you mentioned. Answer to 8a is below...

Group A are names used in paintings by people in Group B: Adele by Gustav Klimt, Beata Beatrix by Dante Gabriel Rosetti, Double Elvis by Andy Warhol, Joseph Roulin by Vincent Van Gogh and Suzanne Bloch by Pablo Picasso

Posted: **Mon Jan 07, 2013 11:09 pm**

Bob De Caux wrote:Ah excellent - only just seen this, but thought I would start on the ones you mentioned. Answer to 8a is below...

Group A are names used in paintings by people in Group B: Adele by Gustav Klimt, Beata Beatrix by Dante Gabriel Rosetti, Double Elvis by Andy Warhol, Joseph Roulin by Vincent Van Gogh and Suzanne Bloch by Pablo Picasso

Thus exposing my lack of classical education. Nice one!

Posted: **Tue Jan 08, 2013 1:27 am**

Ryan Taylor wrote:May be a slight error from the Royal Statistical Society as "square on the hypotenuse" should read "square of the hypotenuse".

How dare you besmirch the good name of the RSS

(Square on the hypotenuse is fine, cf. the caption to the top image on wikipedia - it's referring to an actual square that is 'on' the hypotenuse, rather than just the numerical squaring of the number.)

Posted: **Tue Jan 08, 2013 11:19 am**

Another one that's had me struggling is the Q6 one - an engineer who wrote about something like Alice. It's almost certainly someone whose surname is a country but I just can't pin it down to any particular reference.

Posted: **Tue Jan 08, 2013 11:43 am**

Ian Volante wrote:Another one that's had me struggling is the Q6 one - an engineer who wrote about something like Alice. It's almost certainly someone whose surname is a country but I just can't pin it down to any particular reference.

Without looking at the puzzle, Nevil Shute was some sort of engineer and wrote A Town Like Alice. Doesn't help with your country surname theory, though.

Posted: **Tue Jan 08, 2013 12:42 pm**

Aye, found and discounted him.

Are you doing the quiz this year?

Posted: **Tue Jan 08, 2013 1:09 pm**

Ian Volante wrote:Aye, found and discounted him.

Are you doing the quiz this year?

I had a quick look when it first appeared, but never got around to sitting down and giving it a proper go. (I'm interested to see what the correct author is, because that's a pretty good fake-out.)

Posted: **Tue Jan 08, 2013 1:19 pm**

Michael Wallace wrote:
Ian Volante wrote:Aye, found and discounted him.

Are you doing the quiz this year?
I had a quick look when it first appeared, but never got around to sitting down and giving it a proper go. (I'm interested to see what the correct author is, because that's a pretty good fake-out.)

Will keep you posted. It's an annoying gap, especially given that I've nailed the other 11 answers, and having the theme should make it relatively easy.

Posted: **Tue Jan 08, 2013 1:40 pm**

Ian Volante wrote:Will keep you posted. It's an annoying gap, especially given that I've nailed the other 11 answers, and having the theme should make it relatively easy.

Nevil Shute was only his pen name - I think Shute is his middle name, but his surname is Norway. Which is helpful

Posted: **Tue Jan 08, 2013 1:45 pm**

Bob De Caux wrote:
Ian Volante wrote:Will keep you posted. It's an annoying gap, especially given that I've nailed the other 11 answers, and having the theme should make it relatively easy.
Nevil Shute was only his pen name - I think Shute is his middle name, but his surname is Norway. Which is helpful

Aha, awesome stuff (and reminds me to add 'pen names' to my revision list).

Posted: **Tue Jan 08, 2013 1:47 pm**

Just those damn Olympians then... Why the revision? What's next on the Wallace Quiz Show tour?

Posted: **Tue Jan 08, 2013 1:52 pm**

Michael Wallace wrote:
Bob De Caux wrote:
Ian Volante wrote:Will keep you posted. It's an annoying gap, especially given that I've nailed the other 11 answers, and having the theme should make it relatively easy.
Nevil Shute was only his pen name - I think Shute is his middle name, but his surname is Norway. Which is helpful
Aha, awesome stuff (and reminds me to add 'pen names' to my revision list).

Yes, I just discovered that this minute! Well spotted. That'll teach me to look at a name without looking for the full name...

Posted: **Tue Jan 08, 2013 1:57 pm**

Bob De Caux wrote:Just those damn Olympians then... Why the revision? What's next on the Wallace Quiz Show tour?

It's an exciting surprise (by which I mean I'd rather wait until at least after the audition to mention it in public, given how jittery production people sometimes seem to get about secrecy).

Posted: **Tue Jan 08, 2013 2:00 pm**

Michael Wallace wrote:
Bob De Caux wrote:Just those damn Olympians then... Why the revision? What's next on the Wallace Quiz Show tour?
It's an exciting surprise (by which I mean I'd rather wait until at least after the audition to mention it in public, given how jittery production people sometimes seem to get about secrecy).

Fair enough, as long as it's not Face the Clock...

I thought I'd cracked the Olympic one, but now I'm not so sure. In all the examples given, the first name and surname have the same number of letters. Three of the Croatian WP team also meet this criteria, but I can't find two GB equestrians, only Scott Brash (Mary King and Tina Cook only won a silver as far as I'm aware). Feels like this must be right, but can't quite get it to work.

Posted: **Tue Jan 08, 2013 5:17 pm**

I am in awe of you guys here.

Posted: **Tue Jan 08, 2013 6:15 pm**

Bob De Caux wrote:
Michael Wallace wrote:
Bob De Caux wrote:Just those damn Olympians then... Why the revision? What's next on the Wallace Quiz Show tour?
It's an exciting surprise (by which I mean I'd rather wait until at least after the audition to mention it in public, given how jittery production people sometimes seem to get about secrecy).
Fair enough, as long as it's not Face the Clock...

I thought I'd cracked the Olympic one, but now I'm not so sure. In all the examples given, the first name and surname have the same number of letters. Three of the Croatian WP team also meet this criteria, but I can't find two GB equestrians, only Scott Brash (Mary King and Tina Cook only won a silver as far as I'm aware). Feels like this must be right, but can't quite get it to work.

I was going on the Star theme. One Brit has a horse called Star, two or three of the others have appeared on Dancing with the Stars in their own countries. However, your name link looks pretty shit hot.

Posted: **Thu Jan 10, 2013 9:34 am**

Ian Volante wrote:
Bob De Caux wrote:
Michael Wallace wrote:It's an exciting surprise (by which I mean I'd rather wait until at least after the audition to mention it in public, given how jittery production people sometimes seem to get about secrecy).
Fair enough, as long as it's not Face the Clock...

I thought I'd cracked the Olympic one, but now I'm not so sure. In all the examples given, the first name and surname have the same number of letters. Three of the Croatian WP team also meet this criteria, but I can't find two GB equestrians, only Scott Brash (Mary King and Tina Cook only won a silver as far as I'm aware). Feels like this must be right, but can't quite get it to work.
I was going on the Star theme. One Brit has a horse called Star, two or three of the others have appeared on Dancing with the Stars in their own countries. However, your name link looks pretty shit hot.

Further investigation shows that it's not just the numbers of letters, but the arrangement of vowels and consonants that match. This implies strongly that there's a mistake in the answers, as two British equestrians fit this criterion (and not their horses), but one only got silver as mentioned.

Posted: **Thu Jan 10, 2013 9:38 am**

Looking at Q3, the two sums given are in base 7 and base 6 respectively. From the question, one assumes that the answer is a number of basses (ahaha). The title is sliding scales, so does that imply that the answer is (7 > 6 >) 5, or by asking how many, is it 7+6?

Posted: **Thu Jan 10, 2013 9:50 am**

And since I'm picking your brains, can anyone find a closely related pair from the answers to 6? (beyond Paris/France, and Washington/Kingston haven't performed together!)

Jack London
Angela Brazil
Henry Holland
Matthew Paris
Denzel Washington
Neville Shute Norway
Alex Kingston
Irving Berlin
Chrissie Wellington
Anatole France
John Ireland
Jimmy Wales

Posted: **Thu Jan 10, 2013 10:06 am**

Michelle Nevitt wrote:
Ian Volante wrote:Anyone looked at this year's? I'm stumped by questions 5, 7 and 8.

http://www.rssenews.org.uk/2012/11/chri ... ame|61-460
I've managed to get 8b, but not a clue for the others.

actors and their characters from 2011 movies: Glenn Close=Albert Nobbs, Meryl Streep=Margaret Thatcher, Michelle Williams=Marilyn Monroe, Rooney Mara=Lisbeth Salander and Viola Davis=Aibileen from The Help so the missing one is Aibileen. (maybe more specifically roles they were Oscar nominated for?)

It is indeed 2011's best actress Oscar nominees

I've not seen any of the films, which didn't help me!

Posted: **Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:38 pm**

Ian Volante wrote:And since I'm picking your brains, can anyone find a closely related pair from the answers to 6? (beyond Paris/France, and Washington/Kingston haven't performed together!)

Jack London
Angela Brazil
Henry Holland
Matthew Paris
Denzel Washington
Neville Shute Norway
Alex Kingston
Irving Berlin
Chrissie Wellington
Anatole France
John Ireland
Jimmy Wales

Why wouldn't it just be Paris/France? I'm inclined to go with 7+6 for the base one, but not sure if there is still something we are missing. Then again, it's only worth 6 points.

Posted: **Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:41 pm**

Maybe neither of you have said it explicitly because it's obvious, but surely the point is it's 76 trombones?

Posted: **Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:45 pm**

Er, yeah of course that's what I meant

I thought about Music Man earlier as the Meredith link, but someone completely missed that song! Nice one.

Posted: **Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:52 pm**

Ah, heh. Hopefully this now doesn't look like I was just trying a really blatant humblebrag (I think I have a weirdly strong familiarity with that particular song, although I've no idea why, and with all the really good spots in this thread I found the idea of being able to contribute a bit surprising).

Posted: **Thu Jan 10, 2013 6:48 pm**

Michael Wallace wrote:Maybe neither of you have said it explicitly because it's obvious, but surely the point is it's 76 trombones?

Ah, flip! I thought of trombones from the slide reference, but it never clicked. I only know that song via the old "76 T in the BP" chestnut.

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Re: Royal Statistical Society Christmas Quiz

Re: Royal Statistical Society Christmas Quiz

Re: Royal Statistical Society Christmas Quiz

Re: Royal Statistical Society Christmas Quiz

Re: Royal Statistical Society Christmas Quiz

Re: Royal Statistical Society Christmas Quiz