Earlier today I set you five “Kennections”, a puzzle devised by legendary US quiz show contestant and host Ken Jennings.
Each challenge consists of five trivia questions, whose answers share a common theme.
Here they are again. Immediately below each Kennection I have put the answers to the trivia questions. To find the common theme, however, you need to scroll all the way down to the bottom. Hopefully, this gives you the fun of trying to find the theme if the questions left you scratching your heads.
QUESTION 1
1. In 1988, Curtis Strange became the first person to win $1 million in a single season of what sport?
2. What month is celebrated every year with a moustache-growing movement for men’s health as well as National Novel Writing Month?
3. What new Argentine dance was condemned by the Vatican in 1913 as “offensive to the purity of every right-minded person”?
4. Shaka was the first king of what African empire that clashed with the British in 1879?
5. What was the name of Alan Harper’s hard-living brother on TV’s Two and a Half Men?
WHAT’S THE KENNECTION?
Answers: 1. Golf 2. November 3. Tango 4. Zulu 5. Charlie
QUESTION 2
1. Which Lewis Carroll character is drawn wearing a label reading “In this Style 10/6”?
2. At the end of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, whom does Dorothy tell, “I think I’m going to miss you most of all?”
3. “Leaves of three, let it be” is a reminder about what plant that produces a natural irritant called urushiol?
4. What kind of bird is the mascot for the Linux computer operating system as well as for Sidney Crosby’s NHL team?
5. What playing card was first introduced to decks in the 1860s as the top trump in the game of euchre?
WHAT’S THE KENNECTION?
ANSWERS: 1. The Mad Hatter 2. Scarecrow 3. Poison Ivy 4. Penguin 5. Joker
QUESTION 3
1. What kind of possession was King Arthur’s Excalibur or Beowulf’s Hrunting?
2. What precious element is the most ductile metal, since just one ounce of it can be drawn into a 50-mile-long wire?
3. In what 2007 film did Elliot Page play a spunky high school junior whom friends call “the cautionary whale”?
4. What’s the only US state whose capital has a three-word name?
5. Financier Warren Buffet is often called the “Oracle of” what Midwestern city?
WHAT’S THE KENNECTION?
ANSWERS 1. Sword 2. Gold 3. Juno 4. Utah 5. Omaha
QUESTION 4
1. What kind of body of water off northeastern Canada is named for explorer Henry Hudson?
2. What’s the name of Guy Woodhouse’s pregnant wife, played by Mia Farrow, in Roman Polanski’s classic 1968 horror film?
3. What seven-year-old character in the book To Kill a Mockingbird was based on a young Truman Capote?
4. The famous onion-domed cathedral in Moscow’s Red Square is named for what Russian Orthodox saint?
5. For collectors, what is the highest-quality grade of coins and comic books called?
WHAT’S THE KENNECTION?
Answers: 1. Bay 2. Rosemary 3. Dill 4. Basil 5. Mint
QUESTION 5
1. What Australian city is home to an iconic Harbour Bridge as well as Jørn Utzon’s famous opera house?
2. What destructive Labrador retriever is the subject of John Grogan’s 2005 memoir subtitled Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog?
3. What’s the specific name for a dot on dominoes and dice?
4. Who had an unlikely hit in 1968 with his ukelele cover of “Tiptoe Through the Tulips”?
5. What illusionist and Claudia Schiffer ex was the first living magician with a star on the Hollywood Walk of fame?
WHAT’S THE KENNECTION?
Answers 1. Sydney 2. Marley 3. Pip, 4. Tiny Tim 5. David Copperfield
KENNECTIONS: D-Day beaches; Batman villains; Letters in the phonetic radio alphabet; Herbs; Dickens characters.
Today’s examples are taken from Jennings’ new book, The Complete Kennections: 5,000 Questions in 1,000 Puzzles, which is out on July 29 in the US.
I’ve been setting a puzzle here on alternate Mondays since 2015. I’m always on the look-out for great puzzles. If you would like to suggest one, email me.