Quizzical JOW #994

A few years ago my friend Tor and I sailed into the little town of Marsh Harbour in the Bahamas on his old sailboat, Silverheels.  I have been watching coverage of Hurricane Dorito (or whatever its nomenclature is) and apparently Marsh Harbour took a heavy hit.  I remember that the island was not very wide and had virtually no elevation.  I guess there is not much left of it now.  Of course, watching this hurricane is a little bit like being stalked by a turtle – not much movement.  The news organizations don’t quite know what to do with a story that lasts more than a day or two and doesn’t involve Mueller.

They attempt to outdo each other with hyperbole and hysteria in an effort to get you to watch.  But, of course they have the attention of a mayfly and must quickly move to the next “Breaking News!”

Enough of my rant.  My JOW this week consists of puzzles, riddles, and quizzes.  After 994 weeks of jokes I thought it might be time for a change of pace.  I will start with some questions Tor sent me.  Try to guess the answers before looking down.

Tor’s Questions

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. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?

5. In some 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?

6. Only three words in Standard English begin with the letters “dw” and they are all common words. Name two of them.

7. There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least half of them?

8. Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.

9. Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the letter 'S.'

The Answers

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 fruit with its seeds on the outside: Strawberry

5. 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.

6. Three English words beginning with “dw”: Dwarf, dwell and dwindle

7. Fourteen punctuation marks in English grammar: Period, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, quotation mark, brackets, parenthesis, braces, and ellipses

8. The only vegetable or fruit never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh: Lettuce

9. Six or more things you can wear on your feet beginning with 'S': Shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes, stockings, stilts

Here are some more silly questions

1) How long did the Hundred Years' War last?

2) Which country makes Panama hats?
3) From which animal do we get cat gut?
4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?
5) What is a camel's hair brush made of?

6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal?
7) What was King George VI's first name?
8) What color is a purple finch?
9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from?
10) What is the color of the black box in a commercial airplane?
11) Who is buried in Grant’s tomb?

ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ

1) How long did the Hundred Years War last? 116 years

2) Which country makes Panama hats? Ecuador

3) From which animal do we get cat gut? Sheep and Horses

4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution? November

5) What is a camel's hair brush made of? Squirrel fur

6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal? Dogs

7) What was King George VI's first name? Albert

8) What color is a purple finch? Crimson

9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from? New Zealand

10) What is the color of the black box in a commercial airplane?
Orange (of course)

11. The correct answer is "no one," since Grant and his wife are entombed in sarcophagi above ground in an atrium rather than being buried in the ground.

Some Riddles
You find me in December, but not in any other month. What am I?

I weigh nothing, but you can still see me. If you put me in a bucket, I make the bucket lighter. What am I?

What goes up and down, but always remains in the same place?

And the answers

The letter D

A hole

He is washing windows inside the building

Stairs

A few puzzles:

1.       A man is washing windows on the 25th floor of an apartment building. Suddenly, he slips and falls. He has nothing to cushion his fall, and no safety equipment—but he doesn’t get hurt. How is this possible?

2.       Who is bigger, Mr. Bigger, Mrs. Bigger, or their baby?

3.       Some months have 31 days, others have 30 days, but how many have 28 days?

4.       Is it legal for a man to marry his widow’s sister?

5.       What do you call a woman who knows where her husband is all the time? 

6.       What happens if you throw a white hat into the Black Sea? 

7.       If there are 12 fish and half of them drown, how many are there?

8.       How much dirt is there in a hole three feet deep, six ft long and four ft wide?

9.       A dark man dressed in all black is walking down a country lane. Suddenly, a large black car with no lights on comes around the corner and screeches to a halt. How did the car’s driver know he was there?

10.   Tom’s height is six feet, he’s an assistant at a butcher’s shop, and wears size 9 shoes. What does he weigh?

11.   Imagine you are alone in a sinking rowboat, far at sea, surrounded by sharks. How would you survive?

And the puzzling answers

1.       He is washing windows inside the building

2.       The baby, since he is a little Bigger

3.       All of them

4.       No, but since he is dead it would be hard to do so.

5.       A widow

6.       It gets wet.

7.       Twelve, fish don’t drown

8.       None, or else it wouldn’t be a hole.

9.       It was daylight.

10.   Meat

11.   Stop imagining!

Finally, a small pathetic joke.

I am not superstitious.   I am just a little stitious.