Hair Down

Quizzes are increasingly difficult to do online. They need to be Google proof and yet, must give the punter an even chance, or the opportunity of making an informed guess. I like reading the guesses. They reveal a lot about the guessers and indeed the subject. So, the "right" answer is not necessarily the best bit. The best bit is the bold, self-assured, informed guess, or even an outrageous faux pas.

So here's a quiz. Many will know this track, but who, you may wonder, is singing it?

(And Children, did you notice that the little liquorice allsort people were swinging to it. too?)
Next up, a detail from a painting. Who is the artist? What country, what era?
And now, for the Mystery Stinker; it will send you nuts.


Next, how many colours/flavours of Smarties are there?

And (almost) finally,

You are on a walk in the woods. You lose your map and compass, or possibly a hooded thug takes it from you to buy drugs from the proceeds. Frustrated and perhaps fearful, you come to a fork in the path. At the fork there is a house. You know about this house. It is famous, for, inside live two identical brothers. They get fed up of people getting lost in the woods, so will only answer the door once to a stranger, so you never know which brother you are going to get. Of course, you need to ask which one of the paths to take. One way leads to freedom, home and perpetual happiness, the other to certain peril.

To complicate things further, one twin always tells the truth, and the other always tells lies. When enquiring the way to safety, you only have one question to ask of the brothers. You will not know if you are going to get the brother who is truthful, or the brother who is deceitful. What question are you going to ask whoever answers the door, and what will your action be as a consequence?

(updated) Next. Riders - those contractual goodies that outrageous rock stars deman in their dressing rooms. (Dave, a regular commenter and musician of some repute, and friend knows about riders. I scheduled a short tour for him in Scotland a couple of years ago, but had to back out when his demands for a motivational counseller dressed as Elvis, and candy shrimps served by mermaids were bridge too far.) If you were a rock star and could call the shots, what would your riders be?

Have nice weekend.

12 comments:

Bob said...

For the getting lost in the woods scenario.

Whoever answers the door I would offer him £100 in cash and £900 when he took me to safety. The liar and the truth teller would both decide on the safe route since even the liar wouldn't want to die presumably.
If he refused the offer then I haven't lost anything since I couldn't rely on them giving me directions to safety anyway.

Richard said...

"If I asked your brother which way to go, what would he say?" And then do the opposite.

As for the rest - ?

Richard said...

Stinker - Enya? (Take that the right way.)

Wrinkled Weasel said...

Enya! An insult! As if...Next you will be accusing me of liking James Blunt.

Richard, you are of course correct about the twin brothers. Bob's answer is quite entertaining.

Wrinkled Weasel said...

PS, it's only a "stinker" by virtue of the difficulty of solving it. The song is from a classic album.

Bob said...

I've already seen a flaw in my answer. What if the lying brother agrees. Takes the £100 , then slams the door. Or takes me down the wrong route and once I'm lost jumps into the bushes and returns home.
Mind you with Richards answer I can see a flaw. What if the lying brother plays double bluff ?( as he will have heard the question a few times before I would think) and lies about what his brother wouldn't have said and gives what he knows his brother would have said instead ?

Jim Baxter said...

Well, the first one is obviously Denis Waterman. I mean, it sounds like Minder to me.

Either him or Bruce Forsyth.

I wish I hadn't hoovered over me Sennheiser headphones a few weeks ago. The things I use now just aren't the same.

Jim Baxter said...

As for riders, well, I refuse to give my unique rendition of 'Recueredos de la Alhambra' on Stratocaster (tremelo at the requisite 500bpm) unless the following condition is met:

It's a long, long time, since anyone read me a bedtime story. I therefore require that Gordon Brown be engaged to read to me at my chosen bedtime extracts from Blair's autobiography which refer to him. I suggest he is promised a substantial donation to a primary school and a care home for the eldrely in his consti'yooency and it is made clear that the press shall learn of it if he refuses.

Conan the Librarian™ said...

Leon Russell.

A view of Venice by Canaletto.

Richard said...

The scene says Canaletto, the sky disagrees. And I only said Enya because I thought you might be double-bluffing.

Dave said...

Jumped straight to comment form so no idea if my answers are correct.
1. Delta Lady by Leon Russell?
2. No idea. Canaletto? London?
3. backwards masking was never my forte.
4. Smarties. Loadsa colours, only one flavour.
5. God knows.
6. WW- I am the Dave you speak about, and I thought my eccentric demands were, you know, just between ourselves....?

Now offically useless at WW quizzes.

strapworld said...

1. Delta Lady by Wrinkled Weasel!or Peter Kay?
2. Canaletto. View of the Mersey!
3. Kate Bush.
4. Diabetic cannot eat smarties.
5. I am Gordon Brown, I am trying to get away from perpetual happiness can you direct me to certain peril.
6. Two bags of pontefract cakes, Two sherbet dips,a full english breakfast with black puddings fresh from Bury,a kickerbocker glory with fresh Brazilian strawberries on the top and six crates of refrigerated Newcastle Brown Ale.