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Programme 9, 2021

Tom Sutcliffe chairs the contest of lateral thinking and convoluted clues, this week involving the teams from Scotland and the Midlands.

(9/12)
Why might Henry VIII's sister, Cameron's best picture and the Roman province of Portugal all find themselves in a play by Terence Rattigan?

This and other cryptic puzzles are faced by the teams in the latest match of the series, with Tom Sutcliffe in the questionmaster's chair. Val McDermid and Alan McCredie play for Scotland, against Elizabeth-Jane Burnett and Stephen Maddock for the Midlands. Last time these pairs met, it resulted in a victory for the Midlands: can Scotland overturn that result today?

As usual, there are also musical clues with a fiendish connection which the teams will have to identify. Several of the questions have been suggested by RBQ listeners, and there'll also be a teaser puzzle for you to think about between now and next week's edition.

Producer: Paul Bajoria

28 minutes

Last on

Sat 8 May 2021 23:00

Rankings

Going into today's contest, the RBQ league table for 2021 so far stands as follows:
1  North of England   Played 3  Won 2  Drawn 1  Lost 0  Total points 63
2  Midlands   P2  W2  D0  L0  Pts 41
3  Northern Ireland   P3  W1  D0  L2  Pts 53
4  Wales   P3  W1  D0  L2  Pts 51
5  Scotland  P2  W1  D0  L1  Pts 35
6  South of England  P3  W0  D1  L2  Pts 58 

Last week's teaser question

The question was: Paul Hollywood, Fergus Henderson, Mike Oldfield, Horace Rumpole, Mark Carney, Philip Treacy and Castor fiber: what could they all be looking for, and what might it turn out to be instead? 
Loosely interpreted, that list of names could give us a baker, a butcher, a bellman, a barrister, a banker, a 'maker of bonnets and hoods', and a beaver. They are among the characters who are on the quest in Lewis Carroll's 'The Hunting of the Snark'.
(We've left out billiard-maker, broker and Boots).
So the answer is the Snark: but, as one of them warns early on, it may well turn out to be a Boojum instead.
Well done if you saw this connection. There'll be another question to tackle at the end of today's edition.

Questions in this programme

Q1  Can you explain how extracting carbon might help a supernatural gathering create a device for cooking, cause your notes and coins to turn to cinders, and make a pandemic teach you about the Art of Love?
Q2  I had a magic sprig of heather. When I smiled broadly, it made me a wood-carving. When I struck it like a bell, it took me to the circus. When I shot an arrow, it became an RA. Which wine did it provide when I met Beethoven's secretary?
Q3  Music: In what way does each of these depict an object of affection?
Q4  Which half of rugby could send Red Rum into the Tabanidae, Frasier into the Tipulidae, Smaug into the Anisoptera and Rapunzel into the Zygoptera?
Q5 (from Brian David)  How might's Frankie's toast to his sweetheart, another Frankie's Cold War combatants, another Frankie's small fry, and yet another Frankie's annual cycle, form a logical progression?
Q6  Music: Why might these together suggest an infestation?
Q7 (from Lorimer Mackenzie)  Why might a passerine mimic, ice, Alice's entrance, Gruff and a Kirkcaldy footballer all be used in an attempt to send you to sleep?
Q8  Why might Henry VIII's sister, Cameron's Best Picture and the Roman province of Portugal all find themselves in a play by Terence Rattigan?

This week's teaser question

Why might Martin Scorsese approve of a Scottish goalkeeper, the inventor of the hole-in-the-wall cashpoint, and a 'shrewd and knavish sprite' in Athens?
There are no prizes, but you can see if your answer matches ours when we reveal it next time.

Broadcasts

  • Mon 3 May 2021 15:00
  • Sat 8 May 2021 23:00

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