RSSeNEWS to be determined...

Full answers are required for full marks. In the case of apparent ties, the quiz editor’s decision is final and may be based on the completeness of information provided. Send in your entry, even if you have only completed a part of the quiz, by email to the quiz editor, Andy Lynch. Entries must be received by 23.00 GMT Wednesday 13 January.

Print the quiz out by using the printer icon on the top right of this article.

1. Opening action sequence

(3 points each)

The openings of certain works have been stripped of all but verbs. Identify the works.

a) will drink smoke waste

b) was was was was was was was was was was

c) is reveal conceal is

d) has been working is present has stimulated

2. Ensure fun mod-rocker vibe

(2 points each + 2 for the connection)

Anagrams of five UK number-one records are given below. Identify the records and what it is that they have in common.

a) his nausea/dasher venison meat

b) pi onto enormity

c) two way handout

d) inferno refracted

e) yule police forays

3. Imaginary menageries

(4 points each)

Which works contain the following?

a) a bunny, a larva, a swine, an imitation reptile and a crustacean

b) a big cat, fowls, onagers, testudines, pachyderms and several others, ending with a white bird

c) a dog, a frog, a hedgehog, a fox, a duck, a rat, two pigs, two squirrels, three cats, five mice and an unspecified number of rabbits

d) a great ape and another primate, members of the families Equidae and Bovidae, one with a long neck, one with a long trunk, a rodent and some flying rats

e) 184 birds, in the following families: Columbidae (22), Turdidae (36), Anatidae (42), Cygninae (42) and Phasianidae (42)

4. Jaques and sons

(10 points)

What connects...

• fourteen people in CBTD
• Irishmen AG, BG and EG
• FB, RB, DB and JB in EE
• singers RC and KC
• American clinicians WWM, CHM and WJM
• price lowerers JJS, MAS and JBS
• Flemings PBtE, PBtY, JBtE and JBtY

...and four others?

5. Ups and downs (3 points each)

a) What increased by 23.1% in 1954, 50% in 1982 and 33.3% in 1998, but did not increase by 12.5% in 2006?

b) What decreased by 0.5% in 1999, 0.2% in 2005, 0.3% in 2007, 0.2% in 2008, 0.3% also in 2008, and 0.9% in 2009?

c) What increased by 8.3% in 1938, 0.3% in 1958, 2.7% in 1994, 1.3% in 2003, and 5.3% in 2004?

6. Potpourri (4 points each)

a) Identify followers of the following and put them in chronological order: orange, Hampstead, frozen, drum, beef, Crown.

b) If Mozart is 27, Schubert 31, Vaughan Williams 286 and Puccini 356, what number is shared by Chopin (probably) and Rossini?

c) What connects the works: Aida, The Preacher, Croome Park, The Devil in the Kitchen?

d) If 6=20+37+8+7, 26=77+8+7, 29=27+15+15+68 and 83=5+53+62+92+90, what is 22+7?

e) What do the following represent: a condiment, a fruit, part of a golf course, a bird, a butler’s lady and part of an egg?

7. Mind the gaps (8 points)

DS Hathaway read the piece of paper: ‘Mervyn Bunter to solve if Lord Wimsey’s speech fails. Spoil the good port? By ‘eck that’s a bad idea’. ‘It’s Morse’ he said, and after thinking briefly he suggested to Lewis that they should arrest the vicar for murder. Describe the crime.

8. Six closing words (3 points each)

The final words from sets of books are presented, except in part c) where only six of seven are given. Identify the sets.

a) been, them, union, importance, husbands, disobedience

b) more, Shadow, wind, enemy, more, said

c) années, d’or, tous, l’heure, plus, Temps

Once more this year the quiz is sponsored by Minitab, providers of statistical software and services for quality improvement, education and research. Minitab has donated prizes of £100 and £50 Amazon voucheers. All are welcome to enter, though only RSS members (and their team mates) are eligible for the prizes.