THINKING CAP TIME

A friend of mine assured me that each of the following questions are not 'trick questions' (meaning, each has an honestly straightforward answer, which you can find by clicking on the "Click Here to Continuing Reading" link below question #12.

1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.
2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?
3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons (all other vegetables must be replanted every year). What are the only two perennial vegetables?
4. Name the only sport in which the ball is always in possession of the team on defense, and the offensive team can score without touching the ball?
5. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?
6. In many liquor stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear inside the bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is genuine; it hasn't been cut in any way. How did the pear get inside the bottle?
7. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters "dw" and they are all common words. Name two of them.
8. There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least half of them?
9. Where are the lakes that are referred to in the sports team named The Los Angeles Lakers?
10. There are seven ways a baseball player can legally reach first base without getting a hit. Taking a base on balls (a walk) is one way. Name the other six.
11. Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never solid frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.
12. Name six or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the letter "s."

If you think you know the answers to some or all of these questions, click on the "Comments" link below, leave your answers, and then pop back in for the answer key.

Answers To The Quiz:

1. The one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends....Boxing.
   
2. North American landmark constantly moving backward....Niagara Falls (The rim is worn down about two and a half feet each year because of the millions of gallons of water that rush over it every minute.)
   
3. Only two vegetables that can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons....asparagus and rhubarb.
   
4. The only sport in which the ball is always in possession of the team on defines, and the offensive team can score without touching the ball...baseball.
   
5. The fruit with its seeds on the outside....strawberry.
   
6. How did the pear get inside the brandy bottle? It grew inside the bottle. (The bottles are placed over pear buds when they are small, and are wired in place on the tree. The bottle is left in place for the entire growing season. When the pears are ripe, they are snipped off at the stems.)
   
7. Three English words beginning with dw.....dwarf, dwell and dwindle.
   
8. Fourteen punctuation marks in English grammar....period, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, quotation marks, brackets, parenthesis, braces, and ellipses.
   
9. The original lakes referred to in Lakers....in Minnesota. (The team was originally known as the Minneapolis Lakers, and kept the name when they moved west.)
   
10. Seven ways a baseball player can legally reach first base without getting a hit....taking a base on balls (a walk)....batter hit by a pitch, passed ball, catcher interference, catcher drops third strike, fielder's choice, and being designated as a pinch-runner.
    
11. The only vegetable or fruit never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh....lettuce.
    
12. Six or more things you can wear on your feet beginning with "s" ? ...shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes, stockings and stilts.
    
    Posted by Mikal at July 26, 2005 12:28 PM | TrackBack
    

1.) Boxing
2.) Staten Island Ferry
3.) Tomatoes and potatoes
4.) Baseball
5.) No clue.
6.) No one likes pear brandy. But I'd guess that the pear is grown inside the bottle.
7.) Have no clue. Common words? That means I'm going to say, "Oh, of course!" as soon as I look at the answers...
8.) Yes. (Fine, I'll play along. Period, Exclamation Point, Question Mark, Semicolon, Colon, Comma, Quotation Marks, Apostrophe. That's 8, over half.)
9.) Minnesota
10.) Hit by pitch, balk, steal (on a dropped third strike), error, batter interference, pinch runner
11.) Aspargus. (I don't really know.)
12.) Slippers, socks, shoes, skin, skates, skis. I'd list more, but there's your six.

It's now with trepidation that I submit my answers, and click to the answer key!

Wow, I did better than I expected. But the baseball question contains a question: I don't think the batter can advance on a passed ball anymore. Only the runners.

Eh, either way, good quiz.

I don't mean to argue semantics, or be a jerk, but:
1. Boxing is usually scored after odd numbered rounds, so, unless there is a first round knock out, there is usually a known score leader.
8. There are actually fifteen punctuation marks in the english language:
Apostrophe '
Brackets ()[]{}> (all are considered brackets, and not individual punctuation marks)
Colon :
Comma ,
Dashes ‒ ñ
Ellipses ...
Exclamation mark !
Full Stop(period) .
Hyphen - ‐
Interrobang(My personal favorite) ‽
Question mark ?
Quotation marks '"
Semicolon ;
Slash(solidus) / (backslash is not considered a punctation mark, but a typographer's mark)
Space
11. Actually, one can buy lettuce juice, boiled lettuce leaves, and, oddly enough, tinctures made from lettuce that contain the psychoactive compounds: lactucin and lactucopicrin.
Also, one can buy premade salads, cole slaw, and pickled lettuce.

In response to Jeff's comment on question 8, interrobang, slash, backslash, and space are not offically punctuation marks and the three kinds of brackets are counted separately. This is according to an actual English professor.

1.) Boxing
2.) Staten Island Ferry
3.) Tomatoes and potatoes
4.) Baseball
5.) No clue.
6.) No one likes pear brandy. But I'd guess that the pear is grown inside the bottle.
7.) Have no clue. Common words? That means I'm going to say, "Oh, of course!" as soon as I look at the answers...
8.) Yes. (Fine, I'll play along. Period, Exclamation Point, Question Mark, Semicolon, Colon, Comma, Quotation Marks, Apostrophe. That's 8, over half.)
9.) Minnesota
10.) Hit by pitch, balk, steal (on a dropped third strike), error, batter interference, pinch runner
11.) Aspargus. (I don't really know.)
12.) Slippers, socks, shoes, skin, skates, skis. I'd list more, but there's your six.

2. Niagara Waterfalls. A ferry is not a landmark.... The waterfalls rim erodes with about 2 and a half feet each year.

3.Asparagus and Rhubarb.

5. Strawberries

6. A bottle is placed over the bud and the pear grows inside the bottle until it is ripe enough to be picked. then the brandy gets added.

In regard to question 4, baseball is not the only sport to which this applies, as the question states. Cricket and rounders come to mind immediately.

3. rhubarb is actually a fruit (in which case you could also include strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc.

I would say asparagus and bunching onions

there are numerous tuberous types which grow from both seed and root so also possible albeit lesser quality, leeks, onions, carrots, potatoes

3. rhubarb is actually a fruit (in which case you could also include strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc.

I would say asparagus and bunching onions

there are numerous tuberous types which grow from both seed and root so also possible albeit lesser quality, leeks, onions, carrots, potatoes