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The Big 2009 Brainteaser

Here are questions 1-40 of our prize Christmas quiz

Thu Dec 24 2009 - 00:00

Here are questions 1-40 of our prize Christmas quiz. Ten more will appear each day next week on the Arts and Features pages of The Irish Times. Enlist family and friends – yes Google and Wikipedia count as friends – to answer all 80 questions over the course of the week, and you could win a holiday to a European city

TRIVIA

1.Which Michelin-starred Dublin restaurant closed at Easter?

2.What natural disaster struck Aquila, Italy in April?

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3.What rugby player made a royal faux-pas in front of Queen Elizabeth in Co Down in May?

4.What shop opened in Ballymun in July?

5.What car salesman hired a new staff member in front of 246,000 people in December?

NUMBERS

6.327,860 in January and 423,400 in November. What?

7.9.58 and 19.19. Both in August. Both in China. Which speed merchant?

8.2.46 metres and 22 inches. The world's tallest and smallest what?

9.5. Who took this many days' maternity leave in January?

10. 51,800. The number of youngsters forced to undergo what twice in June?

LINKS

11.What links the following pairs: John and Edward Grimes; Jennifer Aniston and Ben Affleck; Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

12.What former home of Barney and Buddy became Bo's house in 2009?

13.What anniversary linked Sisk, The Origin of the Species and The Irish Timesthis year?

14.In what small, two- dimensional, rectangular fashion were JM Synge, Charles Darwin and Francis Bacon all honoured this year?

15.The actor Rupert Grint, the lawyer Cherie Blair and the self-publicist Marilyn Manson were all reported to have caught what in 2009?

QUOTATIONS

This year, who gave us the following words?

16."I bet you don't even know the name of any of my songs do you?"

17. "Our plan is working. We have turned the corner."

18."I stand for thouands of new green jobs for Dublin."

19."A feckless ditherer who pissed away Ireland's recent economic success."

20."My heart did not for one moment suggest to me that I was going to get this job."

21."You may be put in a position where you have to answer, and there may be circumstances in which you can use an ambiguous expression realising that the person who you are talking to will accept an untrue version of whatever it may be - permitting that to happen, not willing that it happened."

22."Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels."

23."I'd be lying if I haven't made a version of this speech before. I think I was probably eight years old and staring into the bathroom mirror and this would have been a shampoo bottle. Well it's not a shampoo bottle now."

24."It's important to realize that I was actually black before the election."

25."I got into my car this morning and even the navigation lady wasn't speaking to me."

ANAGRAMS

What newsworthy names are hidden in these jumbled up words

26.Weds go riot

27.Joe can milk cash

28.Sony usable

CODE CRACKING

These are cryptograms, in which each letter of the alphabet has been swapped for another letter.

For example, KTY PTGW’E TZT is code for “New Year’s Eve”, where the letter N is represented in the code by K; the letter E is represented by T; W is represented by Y etc.

Crack the codes to reveal the names of two institutions that we came to know this year.

29.RTHEORTY TUULHU PTRTBLPLRH TBLRNM.

The letter A is represented

in the code by the letter T.

The letter S is represented by

the letter U. The letter N is represented by the letter R. Clue: It’s bad.

30.OS KAXJ NSGZ SEO.

The letter N is represented in

the code by the letter S.

The letter U is represented by the letter E. Clue: A cutting Irish nickname.

RIDDLES

31.It never happens, but it does so extremely, as it did this summer.

32.The ultimate lawmaker and a largely uninformed lovemaker from a regal place in the midlands. Clue: nickname.

3 3.Brian ate it. David shared it. Nosferatu wouldn't like it.

34.It has been dark – though not at the top – for 250 years.

35.Comes from the blue. Goes with a nut. Was this year's cartoon canine.

PICTURES

36.This European city was often on our lips in 2009. Where is it?

37.Where is Lance cycling?

38.Whose famous limb is this? 39. Where is Bono singing?

40.What turned Sydney yellow in September?

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More questions in next week's paper:

Monday 28:Culture Tuesday 29:Sport Wednesday 30:Celebrity Thursday 31:Business

See Arts & Features pages each day.Attempt all 80 questions to maximise your chances of winning.

THE PRIZE:The winner of this quiz will go on a weekend citybreak for two worth €1,000, to any of four European destinations (Paris, Rome, Amsterdam or Prague).

The prize will include flights, accommodation, dinner on one evening, and tickets to a show or city tour.

Winners may choose when they wish to travel.

HOW TO ENTER:These are the first 40 questions. Ten more will be published in The Irish Times from Monday to Thursday next week, on the subjects of Culture, Sport, Celebrity and Business.

Email your answers to all 80 questions, numbered 1 to 80, along with your name and contact telephone number, to 2009quiz@irishtimes.com.

CLOSING DATE:Closing date for entries is noon on January 6th. Answers and winners will be announced in The Irish Times Magazine on Saturday, January 30th.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Entrants must be over 18. Prizes are non-transferable. The judge’s decision is final. Full terms and conditions are available by emailing marketing@irishtimes.com.